Land of Magic, Heart of Shinobi
by Kasek
Summary: Naruto decided he would hunt Sasuke down to the ends of the world... but what happens when he escapes to another one? Naruto / Fairy Tail crossover , romance-less pairings for now
1. Chapter 1

**Opening Note**

**Personal comments:** WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Six month's writer's block equals GONE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

-ahem- Anyways, this is a Naruto/Fairy Tail crossover. Fairy Tail is my current obsession right now, so I thought this would be a good way to lift the block before I attempt my older fics.

Warning: I have basic swear words in my writing vocabulary now (nothing DRASTIC, just stuff you'll find in the average Bible), so anyone who is unwilling to read even one per story should back out now. /sarcasm

**Revision the 1st: **Fixed complaints. I can't BELIEVE I forgot to proofread *headdesk*

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail, nor any of the associated characters_._**

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Naruto stared out at the town he could see from the top of the hill he was standing on. Immediately, Sakura, Kakashi, and Konan were beside him, viewing the town for themselves- noticeably, all four of them were tense. From this distance, they could at least see that it was a bustling town full of humans, though the general style was a far cry from anything in the Elemental Nations- as described by Hinata earlier, but they wanted to be extra sure for themselves. Kakashi sighed as he relaxed his stance. "Well, this proves it- wherever we are... we're nowhere near home."

Naruto grit his teeth in frustration. "Damn it all... Sasuke... where did you go? Where did... you take us?"

- - -

_Earlier_

Naruto had been chosen to take part in what was supposed to be a final assault against Akatsuki- well, what was left of it, anyways. All that really remained now were Madara, Sasuke, and his "team"- everyone else, including the weird plant dude, had been confirmed dead.

The alliance consisted of extremely powerful members from each Hidden Village who had been affected by Akatsuki- which translated to all of them. Kakashi, as Hokage, had handpicked Naruto and Sakura due to their extreme abilities in offense, and in Sakura's case her ability to heal others. He had also brought along Hinata, who was extremely distance capable compared to even "gifted" Byakugan users, in order to track anybody should they try to escape (sadly, Madara was capable of "warping" impossible distances), and Tenzo (known to Naruto as "Yamato"), as both a capable jutsu-specialist and to handle Naruto... just in case, even though his hold over the Youko was greatly diminished since Naruto lost his necklace during the battle with Pain, and conversely the seal had somehow _strengthened_ while Naruto was fighting.

The Raikage had chosen himself and his brother to destroy Akatsuki- "No one else was needed", as he claimed. And with good reason- even with one arm, the Raikage's jutsu were entirely seal-less, so his fighting style suffered only in that it was now slightly more predictable. As for his brother, the man had laid claim to Kisame's blade Samehada, and now enjoyed the full benefits of such a fearsome weapon- able to completely negate other people's chakra, add it to his own already massive supplies, while still being able to wield the extremely fearsome demonic chakra of the beast inside of him. Killer Bee and Naruto immediately hit it off, and the Raikage was surprised that Kakashi had chosen the boy as his personal bodyguard. Apparently the news that Naruto had been the one that defeated the previous leader of Akatsuki, Pain, had not reached his ears. Hinata, on the other hand, was scared half to death of the Kumo ninja- though she admitted it was more a phobia than anything to do with them in particular.

The Mizukage, a woman known as Terumi Mei, had chosen the same two people she had brought with her to the meeting of the Kage- Chojuro, a lad Naruto's age and yet of the same famed group that once counted Zabuza and Kisame among their numbers, and Ao, a man who apparently had taken the Byakugan off of a Konoha shinobi's corpse. When he first revealed this ability, he had angered Kakashi by comparing their eyes, and implying that Kakashi had done worse- stealing the eye from his own comrade. The self-control he had built up over the years, and especially during his recent tenure as Hokage, allowed him to do no more than give the venomous remark- "_It was a gift_."

The Tsuchikage, an extremely short old man known as Onoki, did the same- he brought along his two bodyguards, a giant of a man and a rather manly woman. The woman seemed interested in killing Sasuke, which Naruto silently took offense to- Kakashi knew the boy would try to save the fiend, but everyone else on the alliance- especially Raikage and Bee- were dead set on his death.

Gaara, not surprisingly, brought along his two siblings, but in addition to them he brought along a girl that many of the ninja hadn't heard of, but Naruto recognized her as a girl named "Matsuri"- Sakura and Kakashi only knew her as "one of Gaara's crazy fangirls".

Takigakure had declined to join in on the assault, because losing their Jinchuriki was a "negligible loss", and their other grudge with Akatsuki- their hiring of Kakuzu- had already been settled, which had angered Naruto greatly. Amegakure, on the other hand, was willing to provide as many supplies as necessary, and Konan herself appeared to help fight Sasuke's team. She refused, however, to actually fight Madara directly, claiming he was far too powerful for her to be of any help (Kakashi had to roll his eyes at that one- she had taken out a great many of Konoha's shinobi effortlessly, and was only distracted by the Aburame).

Hinata was able to spot their lair far before Ao was, and they had closed in on it quite quickly. Like the first lair they had come across, it was protected by little more than a boulder in front of a cave. They hadn't even bothered to protect it in advance- apparently their seal master was long dead. Ao, whose Byakugan was far more chakra sensitive than Hinata's, had warned them that they were attempting a non-contractual summoning of some sort- an extremely large one, at that, and it was apparently nearing completion. Raikage and Sakura punched through the boulder as quickly as possible- the plans had already been discussed well in advance, this was far too valuable of a mission to be just making things up as they went.

Everyone charged through the debris as quickly as they could, but they were too late; the summoning jutsu activated as soon as they could see where they were going. A giant gate rose from the ground, but unlike the ones that Orochimaru summoned, this one was decorated with an image- a great dragon, breathing fire, fighting a great demon, covered in dark energy, fighting against the backdrop of the night sky. It was rather awe-inspiring... and then it decided to open, rather slowly. Even the smallest crack, however, greatly increased the flow of the air in the room, and the alliance realized they would need to work quickly in order to prevent its full opening.

Sasuke's three squad mates stood defiantly in front of the alliance. The big one apparently had a Curse Seal, as he began transforming into the Level 2 state that had been reported as exclusive to Orochimaru's followers. The swordsman took out what remained of Zabuza's blade- even with more than half of it chopped off, he refused to use another blade besides one of those of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen. Since this was now known information, it was decided that Killer Bee be the one who "disposed of" Suigetsu. Bee had taken him out easily before, and as the only swordsman in the group- and wielding the most powerful of the Seven Swords- it wouldn't even be a problem, and Bee liked the irony of it all. Raikage had volunteered to curbstomp Juugo, as the man was no match for him. Sakura had insisted on taking on their chakra sensor- apparently, they had met before. Everyone else was either to assault Madara and Sasuke,who were EXTREMELY dangerous, or sneak-attack the other ninja should they somehow have tricks up their sleeves (Konan in particular volunteered for this job).

The three heavy-hitters leaped towards their targets, and each were blocked by their opponents- Bee, by water chakra running through Suigetsu's blade and extending beyond it. Raikage, by sand that appeared from nowhere. Finally, Sakura's advance was thwarted by a wall of ghostly blue flames.

All three of the allied shinobi jumped backwards, and shock spread throughout the alliance. Gaara was first to speak. "Shukaku... that's... that's his sand!"

The Mizukage spoke next. "And that water-blade ability, which could even thwart Samehada... that was the Third Mizukage's specialty! Where did you learn that?!"

Both Raikage and Killer Bee took note of Karin's ability, as well. Bee spoke first, his tone mournful. "Yugito's flames... "

His older brother, however, spoke with a tone far more venomous. "You... you instilled these brats with the power of the Bijuu?! Have you no shame?!"

Madara chuckled at their reactions. "Well... it's not like it's permanent or anything. Bijuu sealed into adult hosts are more easily removable, and far less likely to kill their hosts upon removal... though, it's something I could never attempt with Bijuu as powerful as, say, the Kyuubi."

The gate had cracked open wider now, and the wind was now blowing around loose clothes and hair. Naruto grit his teeth as he glared at Sasuke, who was staring at him impassively. "And you, did you take that power too?!"

Sasuke smirked- something Madara noted he had not done in his presence before. "Of course I didn't. Those beasts can be tamed with nothing but a glare- I don't need the power of beasts like that."

Raikage growled. "Enough banter, they need to be killed!" Immediately, he ran at Juugo again, and again the sand came up to meet him- but before Juugo could even blink he was punched from behind, and slammed into his own sand wall.

Killer Bee charged Suigetsu, Samehada in hand. He made a swinging motion well in advance, causing Samehada to stretch like a whip. As Suigetsu moved to block it, Bee suddenly appeared to the side, a chakra-enhanced kunai in hand. Suigetsu decided the blade was more important, but the moment Samehada was deflected, the kunai pierced his body, leaving him paralyzed from the electric shock. "D-damn it..."

Sakura quickly attacked Karin again, who commanded the flames to attack Sakura. Sakura grabbed the earth beneath her, lifted up a gigantic piece of stone, and merely tossed it through the flames at Karin. The flames, not being particularly hot, were easily passed through by the boulder, and Karin was only barely able to not get splattered by it. The chunk continued sailing through the air, and slipped through the now moderately open gate. At the moment, the ninja were having a hard time even just standing without using chakra to hold to the ground, due to how powerful the winds were. What was behind the gate was now clearly visible- it looked like the night sky, but the Alliance knew there was something far more sinister behind it.

Kankuro growled at his sister. "Can't you do something about this wind?"

Temari, appropriately enough, barked her answer at him. "With what? My wind jutsu are meant for blowing, not... ...you did that on purpose!"

Kankuro, despite himself and the seriousness of the situation, laughed at his sister's expense. "Maybe, maybe not."

Kakashi gave the signal- the three forward ninja were either disposed of or distracted, so now they could focus on Sasuke and Madara, the last of the Uchiha. Naruto, already in Sage Mode, charged Sasuke, causing the Uchiha boy to smirk evilly as his Mangekyou Sharingan activated. "That's not very smart..." His smirk changed to a frown when his vision was blocked by Gaara's sand, which was now actively trying to grab him. "You barely beat me WITH Shukaku, Gaara, what makes you think you can beat me now that you've lost that power?"

Gaara's response was monotone, but the Alliance shinobi could sense Gaara's intent. "Because... I have friends, who I fight to protect. The same reason why Naruto was able to defeat me when you couldn't."

Sasuke glanced downwards, and Naruto burst from the ground, fist first, as he had once done against Neji. Sasuke casually dodged the attack, but was surprised with the speed Naruto showed in attacking him with a spin kick. He knew he was unable to avoid it- his actual speed had surpassed his reaction time once more, even with his fully mature Sharingan- so he was forced to summon Susano'o to block the attack. He was even more surprised to see the armor crack significantly when Naruto's shoe connected with it, and Sasuke slid backwards a bit, towards the ever-widening gate. "What the... you weren't like this before.." Sasuke stared into his opponent's eyes, and noticed their cross-shaped pupils. "You... your eyes..."

Naruto grimaced. "Thanks for noticing. I'm not the Naruto you knew, Sasuke. I'm far more powerful, far more knowledgeable... and far more understanding of you."

Sasuke clenched his teeth in anger- how _dare_ he?! "What do you know of my hatred?! What do you know about losing your family because someone decided to kill them?! What do you know about **me**?!"

Naruto's stare was unwavering. "You know Jiraiya, right? He took care of me... while you were with Orochimaru. He meant so much to me... I wondered sometimes, "Is this what it's like to have a father?" And then, one day... Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, killed him. The pain in my heart... threatened to consume me. I wanted to kill him. And then he came to Konoha, and killed Kakashi-sensei, and Shizune-neechan, and Fukasaku-sensei..." Sasuke was about to interrupt his story with the obvious flaw that Kakashi was standing _right over there_, but Naruto continued. "Four people, who were all my family... and I couldn't bring myself to kill him, because that's what Jiraiya would've wanted me to do. Pain, he... he even killed a girl who confessed her love to me before fighting Pain while I was unable to do it myself, and... I knew such rage, such sorrow, such... such _pain_, that I was willing to kill myself and destroy the whole village if it meant he would just _die_." Naruto was glad that Hinata couldn't hear him right now- nobody could. Gaara had deliberately shut them off from the other combatants with his sand, and he could sense that some people were rather upset about it. "But then the ghost of my father appeared to me... he told me, that Pain was just another avenger, someone who had lost his family and was lashing out against those who stole them from him, and that if I killed him, I would just be stooping down to his level... to _your_ level. Someone would want to avenge him, and then the circle would never be broken. So I let go of my hatred- proved that _it could be done_. And Pain? He respected that. He was touched that someone would be able to let go of such hatred, hatred he had created to be greater than his, and decided that I should be the one to break the circle of hatred, not him. He used the last of his strength to resurrect everyone he killed in Konoha... except Jiraiya. I'll never have him back, so I'm going to do what he would've wanted me to do, and end your hatred once and for all!"

Sasuke was nearly speechless. Obviously enraged, but nearly speechless. "You... you think I'll be moved by some sob-story?!"

The force of Naruto's chakra intensified. "Do you think the rest of the ninja world will?! Look at yourself, Sasuke- you're so far gone down this path of hatred, there will be no one to avenge _you_ when you die. Itachi gave his life so that you would be happy- so that the circle of hatred would stop with him. And you... you spit on his wishes! Even if I forgive you, no one else in this world will!"

Sasuke seemed ready to about lose it with rage- although he claimed to have not taken the power of a Bijuu, the weight of his chakra was weighing heavily on the chakra-sensing Naruto, far more than even the Youko's chakra. "No one else in this _world_? I don't need this world! I don't need you, I don't need Konoha, and I don't need your forgiveness! All I need is to see your corpses, reduced to ashes, and your village nothing but a smoking hole in the ground! That's what will make me happy, not your fairy-tale forgiveness!"

Naruto seemed... almost sad. "...I was hoping you wouldn't say that. I was hoping that... if you heard what I'd been through, that you'd be willing to try letting go a chance. But I see now... that you won't." He rose his hand into the air, and then pointed at Sasuke- tears were now flowing from his eyes, the cross-shapes having turned into rounded rectangles- not unlike a frog's eyes. He had an extremely sad smile on his face, his lips now wet with tears. "Goodbye, Sasuke... it was fun while it lasted, huh, teme?"

As the sand wall behind them suddenly advanced with a near impossible speed, Sasuke's madness induced expression turned into a sinister smile. "Too late... dobe."

The gates stopped moving with a great clang, and the wind was now so great that Sasuke was picked up from the ground and drawn into it with greater speed than the sand could move. Madara, who was dodging attacks by the other four Kage, jumped towards it, and disappeared into the void. Juugo, who was unconscious, had long ago disappeared into the vortex, as had the paralyzed Suigetsu; no one had paid it any mind before now. Naruto, realizing that the gates weren't going to be summoning anything anytime soon, jumped through them himself, and Konan, who hadn't said or done much of anything until now, was the first to follow him.

Sakura had a firm grip on Karin, however, so she was still in the cave with the rest of them. Sakura snarled as she shook the other kunoichi. "What is that?! Where does it go?!" Karin took the opportunity to hold her superior knowledge in Sakura's face- she had heard about the pink-haired girl from Sasuke, and any way she could elevate herself above the other kunoichi was an advantage in her mind. "It's a portal. To where, I dunno; Madara claims it contains power enough for us to be able to come back and destroy anyone who gets in Sasuke's way, and that's good enough reason for him to go." Sakura snarled- Sasuke had escaped? Not on her watch! She charged the gate, Karin in tow, who seemed quite pleased with herself. "Come on, everyone! If we don't follow them now, they'll come back more powerful than ever!"

Onoki looked at her incredulously. "Are you nuts? I'm the Tsuchikage, I'm not going anywhere near it!"

Mei seemed to be of the same opinion. "I have a duty to my home more than anything; if Madara's gone, then I shall return to it."

The Raikage, however, had no such hesitations. "Come on, Bee! We're not letting some_ girl_ and her wimpy boyfriend beat us to the punch!"

His little brother couldn't help but smile. "Yo yo yo, right behind you, bro!"

Kankuro, Temari, and Matsuri were behind Gaara, arguing over the situation. Kankuro was rather indecisive at the moment. "What should we do? If we _don't _go after them, we're doomed, but we have no idea what's beyond the gate!"

Matsuri was more than a little frightened. "There might not be a way back, and if there's greater power _there_ than here, we could get killed before we find them again!"

Temari, on the other hand, had already determined that their course was forward. "If there's a way there, then there's a way back! Come on Gaara, let's go after them!"

Gaara himself, however, was still impassive. "I'm thinking..."

Kakashi sighed. "I'm temporary Hokage anyways... history won't mourn my loss. Naruto's, however..." He motioned to Hinata and Yamato, and the three of them jumped into the void as well.

Matsuri, by this point, had run out of strength to withstand the vortex, and flew through the air towards the open gates. "Gaara-sama! Heeeeeeelp!"

Gaara stopped hesitating that instant, and jumped into the air as well, allowing the vortex to take him. Kankuro and Temari just stared at the occurrence stupidly for a moment. Kankuro was the first to speak. "Did he just..." Temari nodded. "Because she..." She nodded again. "....huh. Well, I'm not gonna just sit here and let Gaara have all the fun! Come on, Temari!"

Temari smirked, and they both took to the air as well, and the void welcomed them into its grasp. The remaining two Kage merely stood in shock, but eventually Onoki spoke. "Did... did three Kage just jump into that vortex, possibly never to return?"

Mei nodded dumbly as the doors started closing rapidly. "I... I think they just did."

The eldest Kage let out a heavy breath as the wind died down, and sat on the floor. "I'm getting too old for this crap..."

The far younger redhead seemed to have heard it differently. "I'm too old to be married? I'LL KILL YOU!" Their bodyguards merely sighed in annoyance as the gate shut, and slowly slid back into the ground, sealing many great and powerful shinobi on the other side...

**- - -**

**Ending note**

**Personal comments: **I intend on BRINGING THIS somewhere, either eventually or in the near-future. Anyways, as you can see I'm inserting humor randomly, to make this seem more like a Fairy Tail fic than a Naruto fic. And this is just a prologue- I'll have the next chapter up soon enough (it's already written, just needs to be proofread), so you can look forward to more from me soon ^_^

Comments? Suggestions for the future? Then leave a review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Opening Note**

**Personal Comments: **This was all written up before I even started posting, so any real delays in the posting were caused by circumstances. Anyways, here's where the ninja explore their surroundings, which I tried to do reasonably well. I don't have a set time period for this story yet, though at the moment I am working the angle of "after Fantasia" and "before Oracion Seis", as that's the only part of Fairy Tail that has anything remotely _resembling_ a time skip, and I'd prefer to be able to work with the likes of Juvia and Gajeel rather early on.

**NOTE TO REPEAT READERS:** I re-uploaded the previous chapter, I can't believe I forgot to proofread it.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail, nor any of the associated characters**

When they had first gained consciousness in this world, they realized they had all been knocked unconscious in the first place, presumably by the force of the transfer. Madara, Sasuke, and the others- they were all gone, even the girl Sakura had brought with her. Kakashi had been the first to note a possible reason for it- that their cloaks somehow afforded them a special protection against the gate's energies.

The Raikage had immediately insisted for Hinata to scan the area, and scowled when she flinched before complying. After a moment, Hinata was able to confirm various animal and plant life non-native to any place she had been, as well as unusual chakra among the animals. When she had first made note of this, Raikage again asked her to "just get on with it!"

Hinata was terrified of this man- for obvious reasons, from Naruto's point of view. He was _huge_, he was _powerful_, and he had ordered her death when she was a child. He said nothing at the moment, merely glaring at the giant, as Hinata gave her analysis. "W-well... I can't see chakra too clearly, but... the chakra here seems... more freeform, more unrestrained. If I had to put it into scientific terms... they have chakra, but if they have a system for it to flow through, it's not nearly as complex as it is for any chakra-capable animals I've ever seen before..."

The Raikage merely shrugged this analysis off. "Alright then, why don't you go look for signs of a town or something?"

Hinata blinked for a moment before apparently seeing one. "Th-there's a town, but..."

Before she could finish her pause, the Raikage interrupted her with a snarl. "Out with it, woman! Ancestors help me if you keep _that_ up!"

Naruto stepped between Raikage and Hinata, apparently quite angry. "Stop it. She's a capable ninja, so back off."

The giant man scowled at the brat in front of him. "What, you think I have to listen to you because you're some "chosen one" or because you have a stronger Bijuu than Bee's? Get real! I can defeat Bee, you can't be that much harder!"

Naruto had to resist the urge to slug the man- letting go of hatred was harder than it looked. "You don't _have_ to listen to me, but I'd appreciate not having to use force to get you to stop upsetting her."

Raikage rolled his eyes. "Hey, if she never took emotional training, that's not my problem, that's hers!"

Naruto was about ready to explain the _real_ reason she was so terrified, but Hinata grabbed his arm. "Please... Naruto, don't... I'll get over it eventually. Just... don't fight. I don't... want you to get hurt."

The blond suddenly had a flashback to his fight with Pain... _her_ fight with Pain, and blushed. "Hinata..."

Bee, who had been silent up until now, broke into a huge grin. "Aw, look, they _like_ each other!"

Naruto's face lit up even faster than Hinata's, and was just as crimson. Matsuri, who was also being quiet, glanced at Gaara, but sadly he didn't look back at her. Sakura rolled her eyes at the two and broke up the entire topic. "Hinata, the town?"

She blinked for a moment. "Right... there are humans there, and I don't see any _non_-humans. Most of them are civilians, but there's a great concentration of chakra-using humans in a castle to the back... the amount of chakra in there... most ninja can't even compare. Whoever they are, they're powerful."

Temari thought about something Hinata had said earlier. "If the animals are more "unrefined", than these chakra-users are like that too, right?"

Hinata shook her head. "The town's pretty far away, I can't see details like that from this distance... something else I noticed was that the cultural style of the town is different than anything I've ever seen... nothing like the buildings in Konoha, or any of the surrounding countries."

Kakashi decided to take initiative before Raikage got even _angrier_, if that was possible. "Where exactly is this town, Hinata?"

Hinata pointed in a direction- compass directions would do no good here, they didn't even know what the time system was like. "Th-that way, about four kilometers."

Kakashi nodded. "Alright then... Naruto, Sakura, and I will scope it out. Anyone else good at infiltration?"

Kankuro shook his head. "I can do small stuff, like organizations... but a town? I'd be better off walking in there under a Transformation."

Kakashi's eye wandered down the list of candidates, and each one gave their own excuse- Temari's, predicatably, was "combat specialist", and Matsuri was a "capture specialist" (Kakashi noted with amusement that Gaara must have brought her along to comply with Naruto's wishes of wanting Sasuke alive). Gaara himself did not wish to leave his team behind, so the only people left were the Raikage and Bee, as well as Konan.

The Raikage snorted, and gestured to his half-naked body with his one-and-a-half arms. "I couldn't do a Transformation if I tried! Not to mention that my specialty lies in fighting, not _spying_! That's why I have other ninja do that sort of thing!"

Naruto actually found himself agreeing with the Raikage on this matter- a Kage had subordinates to make up for any weaknesses he or she may have. Bee shrugged. "Same here, I make war, not love... ...on second thought, count me in!" While Kakashi assured him that he wasn't necessary, Naruto was silently thankful that he didn't bust out that god-forsaken _thing_ he called "rap" in this serious situation.

Konan seemed thoughtful. "I... _could_ be of use, but I won't be of as much help as I would be in a situation with far less restraint being called for."

Naruto smiled. "Help is help! Besides, you could help with the plan I have." Konan nodded, and moved over to Naruto's side.

Kakashi nodded at Hinata- he knew her skills well enough, since he had made sure to do the research as Hokage before going on this mission, and she'd be better off here warning of impending attacks. He did the same to Tenzo- the man was ANBU, and his specialty was more anti-ninja than anything else. "Alright then... let's go!"

- - -

Naruto was sad that he had to remove the piece of metal that signified his allegiance to Konoha, but it was rather necessary. While their clothes weren't _that_ suspicious, the three of them wearing the same symbol would signify that they were a group- and if a group that wasn't locally known were to appear suddenly, law-enforcement might decide to pick them up for questioning.

Naruto didn't need to replace his headband with anything- he didn't wear it off-duty, so he was used to it. Sakura, however, was wishing she had remembered to bring an alternative hair tie. Kakashi replaced his standard forehead protector with a nondescript black eye-patch, which Naruto and Sakura recognized from that time he pretended to be a jester in a circus, and then he reached up to his mask, quite slowly. Naruto and Sakura's heartbeats began racing- their breathing all but stopped as they saw the fingers inch nearer and nearer to the tip, ready to tear it off...

And then Kakashi spotted somebody wearing a similar mask entering town from their hiding spot. "Oh, hey. Looks like I can get away with it after all." Naruto and Sakura almost fell over from the sheer force of the disappointment. Konan had to try not to giggle, something she had not felt the need for in a long time- somehow, she was reminded of the good old days...

As for their clothes, Naruto only needed to take off his jacket to complete the transformation into a normal looking human. Konan was... shocked, to see him wearing naught but a t-shirt under it. "Don't you... wear armor?"

The blond shrugged. "I've never needed it. I'm a fast healer, regardless." Konan made a mental note to get him some armor sometime soon, regardless of whether he wanted it.

Sakura felt like she didn't _need_ to make any further changes to her appearance to fit in. Kakashi felt the same- leaving only Konan. They stared at her rather... provocative outfit. She stared back. "What?"

Kakashi averted his gaze- he really didn't know how to break it to her. "Ah... well... that kind of outfit isn't the kind a civilian normally wears..."

Konan blinked for a moment. "Ah... I suppose you're right." She concentrated for a moment, and her clothes turned into sheets of paper- after rearranging themselves a little, the pieces of paper turned into new clothes; they were now a dark-blue t-shirt with black, tight jeans, which somehow accentuated her 'assets' even _more_. At the same time, she let her hair down, letting it cascade behind her back.

Naruto blushed- to say she looked attractive was... putting it mildly. He was thankful that she was too old for him ("for now", Jiraiya's voice echoed in his head, which led to said voice being whacked), because he still had to sort through what was going on with Hinata- he most certainly did _not _need any distractions from the Hyuuga. Sakura, he had given up on- that she would try to _use_ his love for her like that was...

He shook his head, and created five clones to assist them, who transformed into people of varying ages from back home, dressed in a composite of clothes they had witnessed from the short time they'd spent watching the gates from the trees. The youngest clone was Inari, in similar clothes to what he was wearing while he repaired Konoha, with a slightly more complicated design. Older than Inari was Konohamaru, wearing his ever present scarf; the one in the middle of the age-group was Naruto's father, Minato, dressed in casual clothes as Naruto was. Kakashi was surprised at how spot-on Naruto's impression of the man was, while Sakura was left in the dark on the man's identity. Konan, on the other hand, found him to be quite handsome, though she kept that bit of information to herself. The eldest two were the Third Hokage, wearing what they thought were casual robes dyed in his signature red and white, and Tazuna, wearing the same outfit as Inari.

Kakashi was quite impressed. "I see... creating clones that work in pairs of young and old. You continue to surprise me, Naruto."

Sakura blinked for a moment. "Pairs? But... there are five clones."

'Minato' gave a grin quite similar to Naruto's own, but his voice was far smoother- only now did Kakashi realize that Naruto had, indeed, inherited personality traits from his father. "Well, I've been dead since Naruto was born, so of course you don't really know who I am... I- or, rather, the person I'm impersonating- am Naruto's father. I'll be partnering with him, and Konan can come if she wants."

The pinkette was... quite surprised, to say the least. "Wait... when did Naruto find out who his parents were? And how can he..."

Naruto gave a sad smile. "Let's... just get going. I'll tell you later."

- - -

They split up into multiple groups- Naruto and Konan with 'Minato', 'Inari' with 'Tazuna', 'Konohamaru' with 'Granpa' (Naruto was told the man's name was "Sarutobi Hiruzen" for the purpose of furthering the disguise; Minato's last name- and thus Naruto's-, Namikaze, was given to him as well), and Sakura and Kakashi went off by themselves.

Naruto had decided on checking out the great building in the back of the town, while his clones would check out different sectors- Inari and Tazuna would check out the working section of town, while Konohamaru and Hiruzen would investigate the residential district end. Sakura and Kakashi had decided on the merchant district, and Kakashi ordered them to contact the others at set intervals through radio ear-sets. Thankfully, even technology worked when cloned, so the clones could report in without dispelling themselves.

The group of three approached the near-castlelike building rather casually, looking at all of the other buildings while chatting with his 'father' and Konan- the woman seemed quite interested in the man's identity. "Naruto... who is... was, your father? It feels like I should know him."

The whiskered boy gave a sad smile as he recalled the events leading up to this. "He was Jiraiya's student, like you and me. He became feared as the most powerful ninja in Konoha, and then... he sacrificed himself, so that the rest of the village could live... that _I_ could live. Still don't know about Mom, though,I'll have to ask sometime..."

Konan was able to piece two-and-two together; it wasn't very hard. _Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage? _She looked at the clone impersonating him, who caught her staring and gave her a grin. She managed to divert her gaze before she blushed- it had... been quite a while since she had interacted with anybody on such a friendly basis. It had been a while since she had _allowed_ herself to do so; she couldn't have been too much older than Naruto was now. The Fourth Hokage... even if he were still _alive_ he'd be younger than her. Had it seriously been that long since she had thought about these kinds of things? That she was blushing from the gaze of men so much younger than her? She looked down at her choice of clothes- they were clothes she had seen a teenage girl wearing. Her mind was definitely locked as "teenage", despite her maturity. Or... was it because that she knew that it was Naruto behind that grin? That made her blush deepen- he was still an _actual_ teenager! And she was older than his father! Nothing of the sort could possibly happen between them!

"_Konan... you're going to become quite the woman. Come and see me when you're eighteen, alright?_" She suddenly realized with horror that Jiraiya had intended on having a relationship with her once she was "old enough". She wasn't anything like that, she couldn't do that to someone much younger than her! ...She glanced again, this time at Naruto, the ninja who she could see both Yahiko and Nagato inside of- the two men she had loved more than anything, the reasons she was here and not mourning their loss. She realized with a start that she had changed her pace and was now equal with Naruto instead of his more adult clone, but thankfully Naruto didn't notice.

Eventually, they ran out of street, and they were at the front entrance. There was a large stone arch, and besides it was what appeared to be, at first glance, a guard's booth- and then they realized that it was actually a souvenir stand. Above the arch was a large sign that said "FAIRY TAIL" on it- Naruto noted that it was in an extremely standard code-language from his world, which was far more complex than the writing system they usually used, due to the usage of far fewer characters and yet far more possible sounds. It was pretty much used as a "minimal security" code. There was a man running the booth, who was looking at them expectantly. "Ah, hey there! You guys tourists? I haven't seen you guys around before."

'Minato' walked over first, with a smile on his face- Naruto was wondering if he should use his Sage mode to detect how many and how powerful the people in this place were, so he was rather distracted. Konan discreetly let loose a single sheet of paper before walking over to the stand herself and listening in on 'Minato's' conversation.

"Ah, yes! What is this place, exactly...?" He looked at the wares the man was selling- first and foremost, there were little statuettes of different people. They seemed more like fantasy characters than anything, as they were each dressed in different manners, with different personalities evident on their faces, as well as in their poses. One was a woman, clad in some kind of solid-armor he had never seen before, in a battle pose with a serious expression. Another was a black-haired guy, looking nice and comfortable standing in just his underwear; he estimated that there were at least 20 different characters on the stand, most of them rather young looking, though there was an extremely small old man sitting on his little platform, oddly enough priced higher than the other figures.

The man was quite amused at the question. "This? This is Fairy Tail! The biggest Mage Guild in the country! You'd have to be completely new to Fiore to never had heard of them..."

Naruto processed the information as quickly as possible. "Mage"- he had heard the term before. It was a broader term for such concepts as sorcerers and witches- people who used magic, fictional as they were. He had heard the term applied to ninja before, and he couldn't really blame people for thinking such things. "Guild"- an organization under whose banner people of the same professional trade gathered. So everyone here were people who could use "magic", for the purpose of making money, and were apparently quite famous for it considering they had their own _figurine set._ He was surprised that his years of video games were actually _worth_ something! Internally, he was crying with joy. "A Guild? What kind of stuff do they do here?"

The man smiled- probably because he thought 'Minato' wasn't a TOTAL stranger to magic. "People hire us to take care of their problems- monster extermination, bandit protection, lifting curses, fortune telling, that kind of thing. If it's a problem that can be solved with magic, people can pay us to have it taken care of."

Again, Naruto was quick to process the information. Essentially, this "Guild" was like a miniature version of a Hidden Village- where the people who trained to be stronger than people who didn't bother with that kind of life came to earn money with their special powers, through helping people willing to pay them. "I see... I've seen a Mage Guild before, but... they were nothing quite like this."

The man laughed at Minato's expense. "Haha! Yeah, we're larger than any other Mage Guild in the country, in power, numbers, and as you can see, size of our base. You're allowed to go in if you want, but if you don't have money and you're not there to join, they might get mad at you."

Minato nodded at this. "Thanks! And I kinda don't have the money to spare at the moment... otherwise I'd buy some of these wonderful souvenirs you have here. Well, thanks for satisfying my curiosity! Naruto, come on, we don't have the money to spend here."

Naruto himself, while he wasn't required to listen to his "father's" conversation, had indeed been paying attention while analyzing the people in the courtyard and past the currently open doors. It seemed like a rather fancy place for the rough-and-tumble people who worked here, though there were some obviously gentler souls among them as well. The people here were quite varied, and this was coming from the guy who was used to the company of clan kids. He turned to Minato and nodded. "Alright, alright, I'm coming. Geez..."

The man laughed. "Kids today... am I right? You look a little young to be _his_ father, though..."

Minato gave his own laugh, looking a bit nervous. "Ah... I'm told that I look a lot younger than I really am. It's a mixed blessing, to be sure."

The shopkeeper seemed deeply amused by this. "Haha! I can tell what you mean, now I can't tell if Ms. Beautiful here is your lover or your daughter!" Konan blushed deeply at this, and was rather unable to form a response. How in the _world_ could she be mistaken for this guy's daughter?! Sure, he was supposedly old enough to have Naruto as a son, but she was much older than Naruto! She blushed even more at the implications- this man thought that she could easily be Naruto's sister due to her apparent age... and people who were close enough in age to easily be siblings were close enough in age to be lovers... and he had stated she could easily be Minato's lover, as well, who couldn't be too much older than Naruto... She could almost feel the paper her clothes were made of threatening to catch fire. She was so caught up in her thoughts that 'Minato' was slightly dragging her away when she snapped out of it.

"Huh? What just..."

The 'elder' of her companions gave a soft chuckle as he let go of her. "I didn't take you to be the easily embarrassed type. Hinata does that sometimes, too- mention the wrong thing and she's out cold, her face _completely_ red."

Konan tried to regain her composure, and decided to change the subject while making a mental note to talk to Hinata about Naruto sometime- if Hinata 'liked' Naruto, then she would do her best to get the two together and the blond OUT of her head. "The place seems... rather rowdy. Grown men, women, even teenagers, all eating and drinking like it's some giant tavern. There are all sorts of papers lying around on the floor, which advertise the jobs that they can take, which apparently are supposed to be posted on a board in the back."

They walked off to find someplace secluded for their report. They walked down an alley, where Naruto dispelled 'Minato', and then they turned on their transmitters. "Kakashi-sensei, Sakura. You guys there?"

He waited a moment, and then there was a crackling sound which signified that there were other people on the waves. "We're here, Naruto. Find anything out about that big building?"

Naruto nodded. "It's called a "Mage Guild". People who can use "magic"- or, if Hinata's right, chakra- go to the guild to take jobs that require their powers in order to make money. Like home, only on a much smaller scale. What about you guys?"

Kakashi spoke next- he was far more used to giving reports than Sakura was, despite being Hokage now. "The money system here is different from back home, but that's hardly unexpected. I doubt our cash will get us anywhere anytime soon... we might need to get jobs in order to work up the cash to go traveling from town to town. I doubt the Raikage's going to like that too much..."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the thought of the Raikage working for _anybody_ besides himself. "This way or the highway... and roads are uncomfortable places to sleep on no matter who you are."

Sakura offered a third option that the Raikage might be more comfortable with. "We'd need to at least get camping supplies; this was supposed to be an assault mission, after all."

Konan pitched in her opinion. "I saw what some of those souvenirs were selling for, and the price of the meals inside the Guild itself... and a single job is more than enough to pay for a week's worth of meals for one person."

The blond boy supposed that could work, but then he remembered something. "Oh... wait."

The pinkette was obviously annoyed if her tone of voice was anything to go by. "Wait, what, Naruto?"

"I don't know how to break this to you... but one of the more common jobs that mages take is monster extermination."

Kakashi was taken aback. "Monsters? You're sure about this?"

Konan confirmed Naruto's information. "That's what they said... if they were normal creatures, I doubt they'd need chakra users to kill them. They had a job posted for the death of a "demon" that was worth more than a lot of the other jobs, so it's something that is rather high-priority."

Sakura was a little miffed, to say the least. "Well, isn't that just.... fine and dandy! Monsters! As if I haven't seen enough of _those_ in my life..."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah... I know what you mean. Yo, other mes, you there?"

Naruto flinched when he heard four voices speak at once. "I'll take that as a yes... Gramps, Konohamaru, you go first."

'Gramps' spoke for the two of them. "The town seems fairly uniform as far as class goes... there aren't any obviously poor or rich people about, and the houses don't vary in size and decoration too much, either."

Naruto nodded. "And you, Tazuna?"

Tazuna's gruff voice came over the speakers. "It's not a port town, but there is a river that goes through here that people use for transportation and fishing. It's probably not too far from the coast, judging by the boat traffic. I didn't see too many actual companies, I guess this is a merchant town more than anything."

Kakashi voiced his amusement over the situation over the radio. "You know, this isn't knowledge I'd expect from _you_ of all people, Naruto. Guess Jiraiya taught you well."

The boy's embarrassment was evident over the speakers. "He... kinda made me pay attention to a whole lot of stuff while he was training me. I've been to towns similar to this, so I was able to recall the information that applied there."

He heard chuckling from multiple sources. "Alright then- I guess we'll leave and find the others. We'll see how they find the idea of working for this "Guild"..."

- - -

The Raikage was, predictably, the first to find fault with the plan. "NO!"

Kakashi tried to appease the mighty shinobi- "But-" "NO IS NO, KAKASHI!" ...to no real effect.

Naruto wanted to know this man's reasoning behind his decision to live off of the land rather than see what this place was like. "Why not? It'd be a good way to earn cash, learn new things... we might even become more powerful! That's what Madara's here for, right?"

The Raikage, however, was still a stubborn man. "I'm the freakin' Raikage! Do you know what that means? _I'm_ the most powerful! People are _supposed_ to do whatever _I_ tell _them_ to do! If I tell them to jump, they ask "off of which cliff?" I'm not gonna reduce myself to some... rank and file Genin equivalent just because you said so! Hell, ESPECIALLY because _you_ said so! I'm not stupid- I know that you're still a Genin! What you're doing on this mission- at this little _meeting_- is _beyond_ my ability to understand!"

Konan sighed. "It's _because_ he's the ninja who took down the man who defeated both Jiraiya of the Sannin and Salamander Hanzo- this man being the former leader of Akatsuki who was responsible for the destruction of Konoha _by himself- _a man that the _entirety of Konoha_ could not defeat, including the former and current Hokage_- _by _him_self, _without_ the beast inside of him doing any real damage, AND was able to, using only words, get said Akatsuki leader to kill himself and resurrect every ninja he had killed that day, AND gain the allegiance of the entirety of Amegakure, as well as make a certain member of Akatsuki defect from Madara in order to aid him. Or did your informants forget to _inform_ you of these events, 'Lord Raikage'?" Her usage of the word "Lord" over "-sama" indicated both her sarcasm and her dedication to staying.

As the Raikage could only sputter in rage and embarrassment, Naruto turned to someone who he _knew_ would see his reasoning. "Gaara? What do _you_ think?"

Gaara closed his eyes to give the impression of giving a calm, calculated analysis, due to all of the emotion flying around- in reality, he thought it was just a plain old good idea. "We need money... we do not wish to resort to being criminals, nor do we wish to be vagabonds. We need a base of operations... we have no place we can call our own at the moment. We need to learn more about this world... we have a source of knowledge about this world inside of that Guild. I think that the choice is obvious- we join the Guild."

Bee smirked at his older brother. "Two out of three Kage agree- "Fairy Tail" is the place to be!"

The elder of the two scowled, but otherwise did not complain. "Since that is literally all but one of us has decided... it would probably be best if I go along with you to make sure all of you newbies don't screw this up!"

- - -

**Ending note**

**Personal comments: **I like this way of getting them to join a Guild rather than having someone invite them or something. Don't worry, you'll be seeing some Ninja VS Mage action soon; since they'll be joining the good guys rather quickly, I want to get the Fairy Tail VS Shinobi fights out of the way as soon as possible. And, uh... don't get mad at any curbstomping that may or may not occur ^_^;;;;;;

Also: I am LOVING how Konan is being characterized in this story. It just seems so..._right_. She really hasn't acted as a person in the longest time, so her social maturity ought to be far lower than her mental and physical maturity. Will we get actual Naru/Konan moments? Eh. I want to work pairing hints into the story, even if no actual pairings happen- like Fairy Tail is ALWAYS doing (seriously- the pairing chart is just so convoluted in that series). So Naruto having Hinata and Konan after him at the same time seems like a good idea at the moment, even if it never develops; Sakura may or may not find someone "special" who begins to replace Sasuke in her life, as well (candidate: Gray. He's the Sasuke of Fairy Tail, after all.). As for Gaa/Matsu... it's as natural to me as NaruHina XD

**Translator's note: **The original word for the magic-users is "madoshi", the "mado" being similar to "judo" or, for Naruto fans, "nindo"- it's supposed to bring to mind martial arts users with magic rather than, say, Gandalf the Grey or someone like that. "Madoshi" is out of place in the English-speaking world of Fairy Tail, though, so I thought I'd use "Mage" instead. Also, "Mage" instead of "Wizard" is easier on the mind's mouth.


	3. Auditions 1: Battle, Start!

**Opening Notes**

**Personal Comments: **I'll be the first to admit- this isn't the best chapter. First, I have a lame excuse for getting the mages and shinobi to fight. Secondly, I'm trying to juggle too many characters at once here D: Once everyone splits up into their individual groups, everything will be MUCH easier and more fluid. Also, I'm TRYING to do the Fairy Tail characters justice... but that's going to be hard to do, since each side is overpowered in their own ways. What I'm going to do is match Naruto characters VS characters that they could believably fight, and then later post bonus chapters showing what would've happened if they had fought someone else who could totally whup them (for instance, Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against Mystogan and his illusions; Gaara couldn't defeat Juvia because of her water form; etc.), to please the Fairy Tail fans (I'm a big one myself, that's why this story exists XD)

Characters needing development: Konan (she'll develop a bit more along the path I've set for her, as well as trying to go back to the image she once had as a mature woman), Raikage (He needs a personality beyond "Angry", I'm told; I agree), Matsuri (She'll need to be fleshed out beyond "fangirl", since we already have so many of THOSE in these series), Yamato (Background people need love too!).

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail**

**---**

The man at the shop booth was quite surprised to see so many people walking down the street straight to Fairy Tail. Quite a few of them looked like they weren't to be messed with- after all, one of them was missing an arm, a second was missing an eye, and another had _eight _swords on his back, one of them much larger than the others and wrapped in bandages. He recognized the boy and the young woman he had seen earlier among them, as well as several other boys and girls- the blond was probably the least threatening looking of the whole bunch (aside from the two youngest looking girls), but in this world that usually meant he was the strongest. He quickly ran to the front door, and yelled for aid. "Master! There are these real mean looking guys coming to the front gate, and I think they mean business!"

An extremely short old man with a mustache- the one Naruto had seen as a figurine earlier- nearly spat out his drink. "What?! But I'm not supposed to go under undue stress, it's the doctors orders! Get someone to go out there and meet them, or something."

A white-haired girl, dressed rather like a waitress, merely smiled as she began walking towards the exit. "I'll go talk to them, Master Makarov... if anyone else wants to come and watch, you're more than welcome."

A large, white-haired and dark-skinned man in what appeared to be a school uniform of sorts rose up from his table. "What kind of man would I be if I let my sister handle ruffians on her own?"

A black haired boy wearing... not much of anything rolled his eyes. "Isn't Mirajane stronger than you, though, Elfman?"

'Elfman' growled at the boy. "Yeah, and she _wears_ more than _you_ do, Gray."

Gray looked down at himself and noted his lack of clothes beyond his underwear. "Crap! I did it again!"

There was laughter from a pink-haired boy wearing a scarf. "Hahahaha! Gray, you're such an idiot! You wear less than the Guild bikini girl!" A blue cat popped up next to the pink-haired boy and gave an "Aye!"

Gray growled at the other boy, and lunged at him, grabbing his vest. "Natsu, I swear I'm gonna-" Their heads were quickly knocked against each other, causing them to break apart and clutch their heads in pain.

The culprit was a red-haired woman wearing armor. "Stop that, you two! Save it in case the Guild's under attack!" They mumbled apologies to an "Erza" while they began walking outside with Mirajane and Elfman. Erza turned to a blond girl, who was eating a cake. "Come on, Lucy, you're part of the team too, you know."

Lucy looked ready to cry. "But... I could finally afford cake!"

Erza gave a soft smile. "If it's not there when we get back, I'll kill the guy who did it and buy you a new one, alright?"

The blond was partially scared by the response, but happily agreed anyways- she was used to it, after all. She was a proud member of Fairy Tail!

- - -

Mira was the one who took the lead, opposite Kakashi who had been made the ninja's leader. She stood firm despite there being so many opponents. "What do you want?"

Kakashi was trying to be as polite as possible- he placed his right hand behind his head, trying to look rather embarrassed. "Well, you see... we were wondering, if we could, if possible... join your guild?"

Mirajane was pleasantly surprised, and her face softened considerably. "Oh! Uh... I'll go get the Master real quick, he makes these kinds of decisions..."

The blue cat suddenly spoke up again. "I'll go get him, Mirajane!"

The white-haired girl smiled. "Ah, thank you, Happy!" As the cat ran back to the building- standing on two legs, Naruto noticed-, the girl turned back to face them. "Is there any reason you want to join us in particular?"

Kakashi was still trying his best to look embarrassed. "Well, you see... we're kinda really lost, and really out of money, and since we know magic but don't belong to a Guild, it sounded like the best idea, even if it's a bit of a commitment."

Gray was suspicious of them. "That many mages, all at once, who want to join our guild "for the money"? I don't like this one bit..."

Lucy tried to be reasonable about it. "Maybe their old Guild disbanded? And they're without money because they used it all trying to find a place they could find work, only to not really have skills beyond magic?"

Naruto in particular felt the sting of the truth her second sentence brought- he... really didn't have any other skills aside from being a ninja. He looked at the other shinobi- most didn't seem agitated by this at all... aside from the Raikage and Bee, who were looking highly nervous.

Erza narrowed her eyes due to her own suspicion. "But... some of the older ones are obviously combat veterans. Shouldn't we have heard of mages such as themselves?"

Natsu, on the other hand, seemed hyped up. "Come ooooon! Who cares where they're from? They want to join us, right? That means more people for me to train with so I can get better! I still need to beat the crap out of Laxus!"

Elfman nodded in agreement. "A man should not hide any agendas behind promises! If they betray us, they'll have to take their punishments like the men they are!"

Matsuri leaned over to Sakura, who was standing next to her. "I hope he doesn't mean the girls too... does he?" The combat-medic had obviously been annoyed by the man's words. "If he did, I'll beat the crap out of him."

A moment later, an extremely short man (Naruto noted the man was shorter than Konohamaru had been _three years ago_) came out to examine them. "So, you guys think you have what it takes to join our Guild, eh...? We're going to have to test your capacity as mages before we let you in, you know. If you can't fight, you're not welcome here- after all, we have a reputation to uphold."

Naruto gulped- they... really hadn't had an opportunity to see what magic could do. But it was obviously chakra manipulation, so it's not like they had much to worry about... right? He pumped his fist despite his doubts. "Bring it on!"

Makarov grinned at the boy's enthusiasm, though his eyes didn't do the same, making him look... rather evil. "Just what I wanted to hear! We'll start with the youngest people first- Happy, go fetch the others, we're going to have a tournament of sorts!"

Happy gave his signature "Aye!" before dashing back into the Guild to fetch "the others". Naruto knew he wasn't the only one afraid of the possibilities of what was to come.

- - -

Apparently the town had an arena that they loaned out to the Guild from time to time. Some of their mages could get quite destructive, or so the Master claimed. On one side of the field were the prospective Guildmates- they didn't exactly know what to think of the ordeal, and so weren't exactly organized. They had been told that "their magic would be on trial" here; their "souls" would be on trial in a more private location. On the other side were the mages who had volunteered to take on the newcomers, including those they had seen before.

A blond man in a tux took center stage with a microphone. "Welcome, one and all, to the first ever Fairy Tail auditions! I, Max, the Sand Magician-" Gaara took note that at this point he waved his hand, and some sand appeared out of thin air, followed the path traced by the man's hand, and then disappeared. "-, will be your announcer! A whole group of mages has appeared, wanting to join Fairy Tail! Some of our mages think they're suspicious, or even possibly too weak to be of any use! The newcomers want to prove them wrong! So, you all are getting a very special treat- each new mage has to go toe-to-toe with a mage already in the Guild in order to earn the right to stay! Who will stay? Who will have to leave, their spirits crushed? Who will-" There was some booing from the crowd, which garnered some snickers from the prospective recruits. "Oh, alright, fine. Anyways, Master Makarov will do the honors of choosing the matches! Master, if you would?"

Makarov took out his own microphone, and cleared his throat before speaking. "Ahem! Will the new recruits please categorize themselves by "teenagers" and "adults", please? Age makes no real difference in this Guild, but age tends to equal experience, so we wish to choose opponents appropriately!"

Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and Matsuri all moved to the side. Kankuro smirked as he spoke to his sister, pointing at Gaara discreetly. "They're going to be in for a real surprise, aren't they?" She couldn't help but agree.

Makarov stared at the adults' side for a moment- particularly, at Konan. "Ummm... you're sure everybody heard me?"

Konan blushed when she realized his gaze was on her. _Why can't anyone tell my age around here?! I'm not a teenager, I'm not!_ Kakashi laughed at her expense; he wouldn't say so, but even _he_ thought she looked much younger dressed like that. "Yes, we're all adults on this end, so go ahead and start whenever you wish."

Makarov shrugged, glancing at Konan one last time, before looking towards the teenage group. "So, then, who wants to go first?"

Naruto turned to the others. "I say we keep the big guns put away for now... no need to really harm them, right?"

Kankuro sighed. "Aw, man... first we can't use _weapons_, and now we can't really make them bleed? Where's the fun in that?"

Gaara agreed with Naruto's advice. "Fight according to your opponent, then. The more dangerous they present themselves, the better you fight."

The blond boy nodded in agreement. "Alright then... anyone mind if I go first?"

Sakura seemed mildly annoyed. "Well, _fine_ then, Mr. Hero, sure, go right ahead."

Naruto did not seem to catch the tone of her comment. "Thanks! Don't mind if I do!" He stepped forward, letting all take note of him.

Makarov gave Naruto a basic interview in the middle of the arena. "Name?" Naruto figured that since they used that code-language here- what it was called, he couldn't remember- the name order was the same, as well. "Naruto... Namikaze." The name felt foreign on his tongue, but at the same time he was proud to be able to start calling himself that. "Combat specialty?" Again, Naruto had to think about it. He _had_ been able to defeat Shukaku before... as well as Kakuzu. And Pain considered himself a _god_. "...anti-demon."

Makarov had to think about who to choose for a moment while whispers went up and down the crowd. Anti-demon mages were usually very poweful. "...the first fight shall be... Naruto Namikaze, VS Natsu Dragneel!"

Natsu seemed pretty hyped to have been chosen. "Alright! I get to go first! Eat that, Gray!" While Gray was annoyed and Juvia tended to him, Natsu walked towards the center of the arena, and Naruto was shocked to see flames actually coming from his body. "You better be ready for this, new guy! I'm not going to go easy on you!"

Naruto smirked to hide his shock. "Can't say the same thing at the moment."

Gray laughed- at whose expense, he didn't know. "The kid isn't taking this seriously? Everyone knows you don't play with fire. And Natsu is an anti-_dragon_ specialist; anti-demon can't even compare."

Makarov raised his hand in the standard "ready" position. "Alright then... FIGHT!"

Natsu lunged at Naruto, his fists covered in flames. Naruto had an easy enough time dodging- the older boy was fast, if untrained, and all Naruto really had to do to avoid the flames was make wider dodging motions than he normally would have. "Ha! That all you got, Sparks?"

Natsu gave an irritated smirk. "This is pretty basic magic, right here! It's only going to get harder!" The flames suddenly were much bigger, and while the next punch was avoidable, Naruto had been left wide open by trying to make too big of a dodge, and got hit by the other fist on the face. He rubbed his now slightly burned face, smirking a bit.

"And here I thought I'd get by without actually using my magic... let's go!" He mentally translated the name of one of his signature jutsu. "Shadow clones!" He crossed his fingers, and then two clouds of smoke appeared on either side of Naruto. All of the mages were shocked at the display; Makarov, who had by now retreated, turned to Erza. "Y-you're seeing those too, right?"

Erza nodded. "Yeah... those aren't illusions. Whatever they're made out of, it's solid."

The announcer began speaking. "And here it is! The first of the unknown magics used by these strangers- a form of doppelgangers, created through sheer magic power!"

The pink-haired boy, however, seemed slightly annoyed. "Feh, just gonna make more of yourself? Don't see how that'd help against a demon if that's the only thing you can do."

Naruto could only grin. "The clones are literally that- magically created copies that can do _anything_ I can do. We're only just getting started, here!"

Natsu's anger seemed to dissipate. "Oh! So that's it... okay then! Let's see how they handle this!" Natsu put his hands to his mouth, leaving a small gap open. "Karyuu no.... HOUKOU!"

Naruto was rather taken aback by the sudden switch to his native language, but that was all the better for him- an attack named "Breath of the Fire Dragon" could only really be one thing, as if the hand position didn't give it away already. Flames spurted from Natsu's mouth, funneled by his hands into a stream at Naruto. The two clones ran to the sides, and tried to take Natsu by surprise. He anticipated this, as he had already set his fists aflame and was ready to counter any attacks they made. What he didn't expect, however, was for the clones to each make _more_ clones, who all then proceeded to surround him. Each one had a different stance, revealing that they were each still independent.

The announcer, of course, commented on this development. "And the doppelgangers can multiply of their own will! Natsu might be in trouble if the new guy can do anything besides fist fight!"

Mirajane seemed quite interested in Naruto's technique. "That's... a very unusual magic. I've never heard of doppelgangers working of their own wills before. Or is Naruto controlling them?"

Elfman frowned. "A real man does not gang up on other men! They fight one on one!" The other mages could only ignore the "manliest of men" among them, lest they give themselves to insanity.

The flame from Natsu's breath died down, and the "real" Naruto was nowhere to be found. Makarov was impressed by Naruto's strategy. "So he switched himself with one of his own doppelgangers... which means that either they're extremely easy to manipulate, or they truly are independent. Either way, Natsu now has no idea which one he has to take on to end the match."

Naruto grinned. "I could keep this up all day... show me what you've got!"

Natsu smirked. "With pleasure!" He immediately did a handstand, and spun his now aflame legs. The flames stretched from his body, and each of the Naruto clones were caught by surprise. When the smoke and flames cleared, there was one Naruto left, holding up his burned arms to shield his body.

"Tsk... so you _can_ do better." Naruto frowned- Natsu's "flame magic" reminded him of Sasuke's Chidori jutsu variants, only they couldn't be defeated with any of his wind jutsu. If clones weren't going to work... he immediately bit his thumb, drawing blood. Natsu, as well as every mage in the stadium, was understandably freaked out.

"Blood magic?! You're gonna use blood magic on me?!"

Naruto ignored the horrified cries of the mage-side for the moment- apparently, mixing blood with your chakra was associated with evil here. Well, he'd show them that this wasn't an evil technique at all. He ran his hands together as quickly as possible, and placed his hand to the ground, ignoring the cry of "STOP!" from Makarov. A summoning circle extended from Naruto's hand onto the ground, and a moment later, there was a much larger cloud of smoke than what Naruto's clones had created.

The smoke cleared, and revealed that Naruto was standing next to... two giant toads. Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, to be exact. The crowd was silent- those who knew blood magic knew that you couldn't summon... _toads_ with it. Heck, blood magic didn't _have_ a summoning branch! Lucy was the first to actually object. "Wait a second! Aren't Stellar Spirits the only things that can be summoned instantly?"

Makarov broke out of his shocked stupor. "Why would you willingly draw your own blood?!"

Naruto shrugged. "My combat magic either doesn't work on flames, or is too deadly to use on a human. My toads, however, are perfect for this situation, and in fact one of the reasons I even learned how to use them was to defeat another mage. Is there something wrong with it? These toads are like my family- as non-human as they look, they are every bit as human as I am on the inside. And as for my own blood... it's just a scratch. It'll heal."

Gamakichi objected. "Oi! Don't compare me to you! I'm well on my way to being the chief toad, and you're-"

Naruto smiled at him. "-the chosen one of your people, remember?"

While Gamakichi grumbled, Gamatatsu merely smiled. "Wooooow. So many people~ What do you want us to do?"

Naruto sighed. "Weren't you paying attention? He uses flames- my wind techniques only fuel flames. Also, as you can tell this is a friendly competition- so don't bring out the sword."

Gamakichi sighed in annoyance; his hand had been on the sword his father had given him. "Fine, fine. But you better bring some snacks later! The good stuff, like potato chips!"

Naruto patted Gamakichi on the back. "Of course! Now go get him!"

Natsu was now _severely_ annoyed. "The hell? You're gonna make your toadies do your dirty work?!"

Naruto seemed thoughtful for a moment. "Usually, I fight in perfect combination with them, but I don't want you to see the full extent of any one of my magics just yet- so I'm going to give you a sampling of each, and then crank it up as you survive! Doesn't that seem like a good challenge to you?"

Mirajane laughed nervously. "Haha... he can "crank up" his summon magic? Those two look plenty powerful already..."

Gamakichi jumped into the air, and formed his hands together. "Toad Oil!" He shot his oil straight at Natsu, who didn't even get to evade. "What the-?! It's all sticky..." He suddenly got an evil grin on his face. "Let's see if it'll burn!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "No, don't-!" It was too late- the entire batch of oil was blazing within a few seconds. Naruto did _not_ seem pleased. "Gamakichi!"

The toad shrugged. "Like I knew he would be stupid enough to try it!"

Natsu's voice came from the flames. "Geez, trying to trap me in something that burns? Smooth move!" He walked out of the flames, perfectly untouched. "I'm the Dragon Slayer of Fire- that means fire doesn't work on me at _all_! You're an anti-demon mage, right? Well, I'm an anti-_dragon_ mage! So hah!"

Naruto didn't like those words. 'Dragon Slayer'? Anti_-dragon_ level? Well, that just put a damper on things. Speaking of... "Alright, try your _other_ techniques this time, huh?"

Gamatatsu smiled again. "Ooh! Ooh! Me next!" He placed his hands together, and tilted his head back.

Natsu seemed a bit more confident this time. "Use that sticky stuff again, I dare ya!" Gamatatsu, however, did not comply- what he let loose was a torrent of water. Natsu's flames went out from shock before he even got hit. "W-water? How am I supposed to burn that?!"

Gray snickered from his seat. "I think that's the idea." Juvia nodded in enthused agreement from beside him, while Lucy was staring at the toads intensely. _Where did he learn that magic...?_

Natsu was hit by the water at full-force, and was pushed back against the high arena walls. He fell down to the ground, but quickly got back up. "And here I thought you were gonna _do_ something with that water! But only spurting it? Laaaaame."

Naruto didn't take the remark too well. "Just because I _didn't_ do anything doesn't mean I can't. I mentioned it earlier- I can use wind-magic, too, but I'm not gonna use it on another human being, and by itself would only feed your flames anyways."

Makarov was interested in that comment- wind would only feed Natsu's flames? Wind magic trumped fire magic almost every time, that he knew of. Natsu was the only exception to this rule that he had heard about, and it wasn't a well-known occurrence either. He would have to ask later. Actually, from this fight alone he had many things to ask of this boy.

Natsu seemed more than annoyed now. "Is that so? I've taken "fatal" wind magic head on before, and it didn't kill me then!"

Naruto gave a sad smile. "I doubt that they were on the same level as mine... my wind magic has sliced materials "as hard as diamonds" before, and reduced areas larger than this to holes in the ground. So, again, I'd rather not use it- my clones are meant for scouting, and my summons are meant to combat any situation I can't handle myself. My combat magic _starts_ at lethal and moves from there. But if you really want me to try... I have _one_ spell that won't kill you, if you're as tough as you look."

Natsu's emotions were now obvious, due to the great amount of fire flaring around him. "_One_ spell, huh?! Bring it, punk!"

Mirajane observed Naruto's little "speech". "Master..."

Makarov frowned. "Where did this kid _come_ from, to have needed to learn magic like that? Scouting, killing, mass destruction..."

Naruto formed a clone, who immediately began forming the blue orb of chakra that was his signature technique- the Rasengan. Erza seemed intrigued. "I see... so his magic compresses all of that wind energy into one ball. And he needs three hands to work all of that magic, so it's no wonder it's so lethal. I'm surprised that it wouldn't blow Natsu's flames away, if what he says is true. Is that where his clones come from? Compressing air into a human form?"

Gray shrugged. "I just want to see what kind of damage it can do, considering he said that it was his only possibly non-lethal spell. Natsu won't be killed by such a half-hearted attempt, anyways."

As soon as Naruto was done powering up, he charged at Natsu, attack in hand. "Pft! You're going to charge at me? Well how about this!" The flames surrounding him all went straight to his right hand, turning into a rather large orb of fire. "Karyuu no... TEKKEN!" Natsu's feet burst into flames, accelerating his charge at Naruto, who was now doing the same. The orbs clashed, one of fire, and one of pure chakra. The Rasengan, however, seemed to _absorb_ Natsu's flames, turning into a bigger, glowing red sphere. Natsu didn't have much of a chance to react before the orb was thrust at his stomach, and was pushed backwards while spinning like a flaming pinwheel through the air. He hit the back wall- hard. Naruto flinched at the result- a large explosion of dust and chunks of the arena wall.

"Dang it! That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Gray was the first to be at Natsu's side; he seemed amused by Natsu's predicament. "Yo! You okay in your little crater?" The rocks crumbled, and Natsu stepped out, obviously hurt but not lethally so. There were no burns- Natsu's statement about being immune to flames was apparently right on target. His skin was barely even _dented_, and Naruto knew that most people ought to be bleeding right now; he was breathing heavily, however.

"Hey! I thought you said your wind magic _fed_ flames?"

Naruto shrugged. "That was the most basic "attack" technique I know- it's the end result of a training exercise that adds "shape" to magic without actually using a spell. Adding your own spell to it is usually a good way to kill anything you can think of. That you took so little damage..." He grinned at the older boy. "I think I'll like it here! If you guys take me, anyways."

Even Erza shivered at that one. "It did that much damage... and he can customize it with spells?"

Natsu grumbled as he walked over to Makarov. "Fine! He passes! Geez..." Makarov announced the result to the arena. "Winner: Naruto!"

Naruto couldn't help but grin and give a "V" for "Victory" to his comrades. "Alright! I passed!" Most of the newcomers seemed quite pleased with this, while others... were not.

The Raikage snarled. "Why do the kids get to go first?"

Kakashi shrugged. "To give a bigger show, I guess."

Max took the. "And Naruto Namikaze has passed the magic test!" The crowd, however, didn't feel like cheering too much, considering that Naruto seemed... _far_ from an ordinary mage. Naruto sighed as he walked over to Makarov. "Geez... feel real welcome here..."

The much older man sighed. "We'll discuss your actual entry into the Guild later. For now..." He put his microphone back up to his face. "Who wishes to fight next?"

Gaara stepped forward, his face impassive. "I'll go." Matsuri had to hold back her usual impulse to cheer for "Lord" Gaara, as that would look rather questionable.

Makarov gave him the same questions he gave Naruto. "Name?" "Gaara." "Combat specialty?" "Versatility and Defense." Makarov again seemed to think things through for a moment. _Versatility and defense, eh? I know a mage who fits that description..._ "How about... Gray? You wanna try?"

Gray tried to play this cooly. "Sure. I'm not going to go easy on him like Natsu did."

Natsu snarled. "Hey! I was up against a totally unknown opponent! You don't bring out your best moves first in that kind of fight! And besides... at least I fought when I wasn't naked!"

The dark-haired mage looked down at himself and realized that he was, indeed, back in his underwear. "Oh crap! Again?!" While the newcomers mostly snickered, Gray decided to shrug it off. "Ah well... I fight best like this anyways."

Erza glanced at the near-naked mage. "I'm sure you've noticed the container on his back. Whatever is in there, that's what he uses for his magic."

Gray rolled his eyes. "State the obvious, why don't you?" He walked into the center of the arena, and faced the still-impassive Gaara. Juvia suddenly cheered for her love. "You can do it, Lord Gray!"

Matsuri suddenly couldn't resist the impulse anymore, either. "Beat him to a pulp, Lord Gaara!"

Naruto, who was now sitting on Fairy Tail's side, snickered as he watched Juvia's eyes snap towards Matsuri with the fierceness of a cat. "One in every group, huh...?"

Makarov stood in-between the two, and raised his hand once more. "Alright then... Gaara VS Gray Fullbuster! FIGHT!"

The moment the fight started, Gray saw a small object launch from Gaara and at his face. He tilted his face to dodge- he could see what it was. _The cork on the gourd? Must be just a warning move_... A moment later, he could hear the sound of sand shifting, and he could see a dark red sand flowing from the opening in the top of the gourd. Max was understandably upset.

"Hey! I'm the only sand mage in Fairy Tail! Give him one for me, Gray!"

Gray ignored the announcer in order to concentrate. _Why does he need to bring his own sand to a fight? Max can make his sand out of thin air... whatever that red sand is, it's not normal sand._

Lucy noted that Natsu was now clutching his nose. "Natsu...? What's wrong?"

The Dragon Slayer was very obviously in pain. "Ugh! That stench...! It's... blood! Tons of it!"

The mages near him were quite surprised. "Blood?!" Makarov stared at the red color of Gaara's weapon of choice, and frowned. What was _with_ these people's association with blood? "It must be that sand..."

Gaara was more than capable of hearing the mages. "It's a special demon sand that conducts my magic far more easily than regular sand does. The smell of blood comes from those the demon itself killed. As evil as it sounds, this batch of sand has been under my control for quite some time."

Mirajane seemed to accept this explanation easily enough. "Well, that actually explains a lot... but, if he's a sand mage who was able to kill a sand demon with his magic... how powerful is he now?" This remark sent a chill down the spines of those within hearing distance, and poor Makarov really didn't wish to think about such things.

Gray didn't feel like finding out, either. "Well, if you're _that_ strong... then there's no need to hold back!" He put his hands together, cold air forming between them. "Ice Make..." Gaara noted that handseals were apparently needed for at least _some_ magic. Gray then placed his hands on the ground. "....Geyser!" Gaara could feel the chakra extending from Gray to under his feet, and understood the exact nature of this technique. He immediately jumped into the air, his sand forming underneath him to both serve as a platform and as a defense. A moment afterwards, ice sprouted from the ground and began rising upwards in a spire made of ice-stalagmites. Gaara tried to rise as high as he could, but the ice eventually caught and froze his sand. He took a small portion of it and grew it into a pillar from the platform and rose himself higher, and the ice stopped growing short of his feet. Gray smirked at his handiwork. "And now you're out of your special sand."

Gaara stared down his opponent from his rather high perch. "If my sand were stopped so easily, I wouldn't use it." The ice began vibrating, and after a moment completely shattered- showing that the sand had formed many spikes. The sand softened, and Gaara landed back on his main platform, which lowered itself back to ground level. "You'll need to try different tactics in order to defeat me."

Gray smirked as he put his hands together again, but internally he was worried. _The hell?! My ice shouldn't be so easily defeated! He said his specialty was "defense", but he could probably destroy anyone else's with that!_ "Alright, then... Ice Make... Bow!" A large bow with an ornate arrow appeared in his hand. "Let's see your sand get rid of _this!_" Gaara was rather confident in his defense, but he placed his sand in the arrow's path anyways. To be extra sure, he placed an extra layer of sand past his usual level of defense. Gray released the arrow, and nobody could even blink before the tip of the arrow was embedded rather deep in the sand... and an explosion of ice came out the other side.

However, the sand floated to the side, and a third layer of sand could be seen frozen beyond the first two. "Impressive... this sand is harder than steel." The ice shattered once more, and Gaara was revealed to be just fine. "To pierce it completely... if I had put all of my sand into a single defense, I could very well be dead. You placed a great deal of confidence in my abilities."

Gray smirked. "You stated defense as one of your specialties... I figured your defense was as overboard as your friend's attacks."

Gaara gave a slight smile. "Quite the assumption to make... well, I've shown the basics of my defense. Now to show my offense." The sand shifted, and a moment later the sand shot out at him. Gray was barely able to dodge the first shot, but a second was right behind it. Gray jumped out of the way, but both arms of sand turned faster than Gray would have ever expected, and enveloped his body- within moments, he was unable to move, his head the only thing exposed above the cocoon of sand that was now rising off of the ground.

"Well... that was unexpected."

Gaara didn't bother using any more force than necessary- if he couldn't move his hands, he more than likely couldn't do anything, as his magic was far more formulaic than that of the Dragon Slayer's. "Are you unable to fight back?"

Gray grit his teeth in frustration. He already saw that the boy could turn his sand into spikes- if he had _wanted_ Gray dead, he would be already. ".....yes."

Makarov called the match. "Winner: Gaara!"

Max was _shocked_, as was the rest of Fairy Tail. "G-Gaara wins by a _sand_slide! The newcomers are two for two, so far- who will we see fight next?!" Gaara let his opponent go, and silently moved over to the Fairy Tail side next to Naruto, past the glaring Juvia, while his sand slid back into its gourd.

Matsuri was excited. "Of _course_ Lord Gaara would defeat him! Lord Gaara will never suffer a defeat after... after..."

Sakura patted her on the shoulder. "Now that he knows that people want him, he won't be so willing to die anytime soon. Don't worry about it, alright?" Matsuri nodded appreciatively, while Hinata felt worried. _Then why are you so willing to throw away your own life... Sakura?_

- - -

**Ending Notes**

**Personal Comments: **I really do apologize for any perceived drop in quality, but combat scenes aren't my forte, and the beginning was... I don't even _know_. I also severely apologize for Natsu 'losing' (he gave up because it wasn't fun anymore), and Gray being defeated after only two moves (because he wasn't prepared for how powerful Gaara really was). Again, I'll prepare bonus chapters where Naruto and Gaara actually _lose_ to mages who outclass them due to having a different specialty, as well as any other ninja who happen to win. If a ninja loses, then I'll make bonus chapters for them _winning_ against mages they could've won against.

Also, I got the idea for there being a taboo on blood magic because of the throwaway gag when Plue is first summoned. I doubt I'm gonna bring it back up for a while yet.

Anyways, we're gonna need to get past all of these fights before we get on to the true plot, but the fights are going to set up how the other mages view each of the ninja in terms of personality and strength, as well as approachability (for instance, Naruto pretty much just screwed himself over in the 'making friends' department for the moment, but his strength will be respected and/or feared, if he even makes it in).

...and yes, I realize pretty much everyone else in the story said "Can I join?"and got the response "Sure!" The ninja are _suspicious_, first and foremost, so they're having a bit of an exam (note Max's statement about it being the first Fairy Tail had ever held).

**Planned Fights:**

Suggestions are helpful! These are just what I have planned for now, very little is actually written.

Sakura VS Lucy (I'm still writing this, I had a different fight planned but scratched it at the last minute)

Matsuri VS Juvia (Fan-girl Cat-fight! Already written out completely)

Temari VS Evergreen

Kankuro VS Bixlow (It just seems so appropriate; if you have a different suggestion, I'd love to hear it.)

Kakashi VS Erza (Like Kakashi would fight anyone else other than the magic-eyed hero team leader)

Raikage VS Elfman (Raikage needs a personality; Elfman's the guy to do it. I don't care how much of a curb-stomping it might end up being (poor Elfman D:), this seems to me like it will be a big step towards defining the Raikage in this story.)

Yamato VS Droy (It'll be a while yet before I write this, so it's definitely subject to change)

Bee VS Erza (Like Kakashi could do enough damage to Erza to keep her from a second fight :P )

Konan VS Macao (I know he's never actually fought, so I'm just gonna make him up as I go along based on his manga profile and anime filler flashback.)


	4. Auditions 2: Girl Power!

**Opening Notes**

**Personal Comments: **Sorry it took so long! First of all, there were loads of circumstances. Secondly, it took me a while to get everything juuuust so, and even now it's not perfect, especially since this is over 8000 words by itself (9000 with notes). If you think something could be improved, tell me xD Especially if I missed a word or two here and there ^_^;;; ...now that I think about it, I think I started too many paragraphs with character names. I'll fix that soon, that's usually a complaint the English grads level at me.

Actually, I think I'll start naming the chapters from now on... this fic seems like it would be easy to do such a thing.

Deadman2020: Lol at Sakura VS Elfman... it's not happening, sadly, but a nice thought.

And thanks to the reviewers for reminding me about poor Hinata! Apparently I had forgotten about her completely... she's such a wallflower. Yamato was forgotten even more than she was, though xD

**Questions/Answers: **Q: Why the auditions? A: Because the shinobi are suspicious xD Even Gajeel wasn't that suspicious. Q: Why is the Raikage such a jerk? A: He'll lighten up soon, I promise. Q: How will Sage Mode be affected by the magic world? A: I actually reread Fairy Tail recently and discovered a likely answer to this; the answer is that Naruto won't be affected much at all. It's everyone else that needs to worry about it. Q: Why did Naruto ask the clones instead of dispelling them? A: Notice that he dispelled Minato; he knows he can do this, but he didn't. It's because they were pretty far away, so he has no clue if they're within view of anyone. Q: Why is Naruto still chasing Sasuke? A: To kill him. That was stated; Naruto was hoping he wouldn't need to, but he decides right there during their battle that he needs to, and then Sasuke escapes. Q: Why is this so popular? xD A: Because it's freaking Naruto and Fairy Tail, that's why!

**Disclaimer: ….you know the drill xD**

**Chapter 4: Fairy Tail Auditions 2: Girl power!**

After lifting her hand from Matsuri, Sakura stepped forward next, confident in her own abilities. "I'm your next fighter!"

Makarov nodded in approval of this girl's attitude... though mentally, he was frowning at her looks. _She's a little too flat for my tastes... oh well_. "Alright then. Name?" "Sakura Haruno." "Combat specialty?" Sakura decided to be a bit more specific than Naruto and Gaara had been, but still vague. "My hands and feet."

The Guild Master wondered what the comment meant. _Should I send in Miki...? No, her magic isn't actually her body. Natsu is still winded from that hit to the gut... Gajeel would be overkill. Jet or Elfman would probably be best... _Lucy, however, had stepped forward while he was speaking. "Master... can I fight?" The elder mage looked at her, his eyes containing his question. "Natsu and Gray got to fight, and I haven't gotten to prove myself to the whole Guild yet! This is the perfect opportunity to show everyone that I'm not who they think I am!"

A voice rose over the crowd. "Yeah! Let the Cosplay Queen fight!" Lucy recognized the voice as Bixlow, a man who knew not to underestimate Lucy- she guessed he was helping her out... in his own way. It was still enough to make her red with rage, though.

Makarov, however, laughed it off. He knew that Bixlow had been defeated by Lucy, as well; Lucy was almost the opposite of a body-enhancement type mage, so he didn't see too much of a problem with this match-up. "Alright, then, do what you will." Makarov walked over to the middle of the arena, and raised his hand. "Sakura Haruno VS Lucy Heartfilia! FIGHT!"

Lucy immediately jumped backwards, taking out her set of keys as she did so. "If your magic is only body-enhancement, you're out of luck!" She detached one of the golden keys, and twirled it through the air. "Open, Gate of the Bull! Taurus!" She placed it on the ground, as if "unlocking" it. Sakura noticed the ground rumbling the instant she did it, and the ground between them bulged. A moment later, a large... cow, man, _thing_ erupted from the ground. Sakura was a little on the surprised side- in human terms, he was a giant as well as a muscle man, carrying around a gigantic ax. However, he also seemed to be a two-legged cow. The cow turned to Lucy, and his voice carried a great deal of affection behind it.

"Lucy! It's so good to see your boobs!"

As Lucy turned bright red from embarrassment, the crowd _immediately _burst into laughter. "Her Stellar Spirit's a pervert!", "He's a cow! I thought he was supposed to be a bull!", and other such comments were easily heard even from Sakura's position. Sakura, however, was glowing bright red from _rage_.

"You... you... PERVERTED COW!" She charged the large creature, disregarding all else but the pervert in front of her. The more experienced mages began analyzing her every move, with Erza going first.

"She's not enhancing her speed... so she must be enhancing her strength."

Makarov nodded as he got back into position with the other mages. "I've never heard of someone who _only_ enhanced their strength, though. She must have a lot of confidence in her body if she's charging Taurus like that. Plus... her stance. It's both rough, but entirely flexible. She knows how to fist-fight."

Taurus, however, only picked up the killing intent from the pinkette and turned towards her. "Oh? You think you can defeat me in a fight, _no-boobs_? I could take you on bare-handed!" He put down his ax, and threw a punch at Sakura... which she easily dodged, and then she punched the large spirit in the stomach. There was no movement for a few seconds, causing Max to comment. "What just happened? What _is_ this girl's magic, that can only be used at such a close range? She didn't blow him away, yet he's staying still!" After he finished speaking, Sakura removed her hand from Taurus's gut... and he fell over, unconscious.

She arched her back, obviously feeling quite pleased with herself as the spirit disappeared back to where it came from. "Nothing quite like knocking out a pervert with one punch! Naruto usually requires two."

Natsu glared at her, and then at Naruto, obviously offended. "I could take a HUNDRED punches like that!"

Naruto placed a hand on the older boy's shoulder, his face completely serious. "..I'd give you four, tops."

The Dragon Slayer was obviously angered, but Gray (who had come back from shaking all of the sand out of his boxers) smirked. "That's still twice as many as he can take, Natsu."

While Natsu cheered, the rest of the mages had to roll their eyes- Natsu had apparently missed the whole point of Sakura punching other people. Meanwhile, Lucy was going over in her head who to let fight next. _She took out Taurus... so she's incredibly strong. But he's not particularly fast... I could use Cancer, but then he'd cut her hair, and then she'd never forgive me. Sagittarius isn't exactly non-lethal... so I guess I'll pick... _She took out another key, and this time was "unlocking" the space in front of her. "Gate of the Maiden, open! Virgo!"

This time, apparently the thing she summoned was... a girl in a maid outfit. She had pink hair and orange eyes, and while the first wasn't unusual (in Sakura's mind), the second most certainly was. "You called, Master?"

Lucy pointed at Sakura, appearing quite determined. "We'll use your magic to defeat her!"

Virgo nodded. "I see... you wish to punish her. Do you wish to punish me, as well?" Lucy again turned bright red as the crowd laughed at her expense. "A _maid_? I want a maid!" "She's into _that_, huh? Are all of her spirits perverts?" "When you hear 'Virgo', this isn't exactly what you'd expect!"

Sakura, however, was ready to fight whenever Lucy was. Virgo acknowledged this, and immediately disappeared into the ground, leaving a hole where she was standing. Lucy snapped out of it, and took out her whip. "Alright then... from here on out, it's two-on-one! I hope you're ready!"

Sakura smirked as she stood combat ready for a few moments. "Attacking me from underground? Not the smoothest move you could've made!" She raised her fist, and brought it down onto the ground beneath her. Nobody dared say a _word_ when they saw the earth in front of Sakura break apart and fly into the air in large chunks. Virgo popped her head out of one of pieces of earth, obviously surprised.

"? There ought to be more earth in front of me..." Sakura took advantage of the opening that was now presented, and immediately punched Virgo's face in. As she expected, Virgo disappeared into trickles of light as Taurus had. "I see... I thought she couldn't be human, because you summoned her the same way you summoned that perverted cow."

Lucy took note of the comment. _She doesn't know about the Stellar Spirits? But she's with that other summon guy... _"What kind of summons are you used to, if you don't normally see human-like ones?"

Sakura realized the implications behind the question: summons in this world were like the last two, creatures that were varyingly humanlike. Naruto's "blood summon" technique had certainly surprised them earlier, so she guessed they were bound to be questioned anyways. "Animal summons, like toads and dogs. They're living creatures that you have to connect with before they allow themselves to be summoned; summoning them takes a lot out of you, and you can only summon one type of animal."

Lucy catalogued the information for later research; Levi might know about this kind of thing. "Alright then... who should I summon next..."

Sakura dashed at the blond, obviously not caring about what she could summon. "No one!" However, before Sakura could punch the older girl, her fist was intercepted by someone else's hand. She was pretty shocked- she didn't even get the chance to enhance the force of it, because this guy had literally come out of nowhere. She looked up at the man holding her fist- he looked perfectly human from this viewpoint, he was a blond man wearing a suit and sunglasses. Since he was apparently human, this ticked the kunoichi off; fights ought to be fought by the people involved, after all. "This is her fight, don't interfere!"

The man obviously didn't care. "Lucy... are you alright?"

Lucy was surprised that the man had appeared so suddenly, as was the crowd if their whisperings were anything to go by. "Loke... why'd you come out? This isn't a life or death situation or anything..."

Loke turned to Lucy, smiling. "Well... you were probably going to call on me anyways, but... I'd rather not see anyone touch your beautiful face except myself." For a third time, the crowd seemed noticeably excited. "So it's true- Loke was a Stellar Spirit!" "Is Lucy his girlfriend?!" "Did he just appear without her summoning him?" Sakura noted that some other people weren't being quite so quiet about their love of this "Loke" person, if the fangirls squealing was any indication.

He faced Sakura again, still gripping her fist. "Your magic was so strong before... but when you punched me, I only felt the strength of an average person. You must release it in quick bursts, within milliseconds of contact... is it because you don't have a lot of stamina, or is that just how the technique works?"

Sakura brought up her leg to kick Loke in the side, but he jumped over her head, her fist still in tow, and twisted it behind her back. "Lucy is my master... I won't let you harm her." She realized by his wording that this man was another summon- an extremely human one, more so than that maid, and obviously quite experienced with combat as well as chakra control. If he wasn't even human, Sakura had to wonder just how _old_ this guy really was, and it clicked in her head what that meant.

"Y-you old pervert!" She raised her leg, intent on slamming it down on Loke's own foot, if it was even there. If he was as experienced as she thought he was, it probably wasn't; still, it would serve its purpose all the same. Loke released her and immediately jumped into the air, avoiding the sudden upheaval of the ground beneath him. "Old? I'll have you know it was just a few months ago I was voted most eligible bachelor in the magical world!" Sakura was immediately upon him, fist raised to strike a finishing blow while he couldn't move in mid-air. His hands suddenly began glowing, and he waved his left hand in front of his body, creating a shield of light that blocked Sakura's punch. When he didn't even budge despite her using her strength, she realized that it would be useless aiming for it; the shield disappeared, apparently trailing after Loke's hand. He brought his right fist forward, aiming for Sakura's chest; she put both of her hands in the way to intercept, but the light surrounding his fist pushed her back before she could catch anything solid. Everyone was impressed when her landing further kicked up a lot of dust, especially Natsu. "Yeah! Kick her butt, Loke! Show her what Fairy Tail can _really_ do!"

Even Naruto was able to spot the flaw in the Salamander's thinking. "But... isn't Loke a spirit, and technically not a member of Fairy Tail?"

Happy decided to answer before Natsu could say something stupid. "Loke disguised himself as a mage, and he was part of Fairy Tail for three years before making a contract with Lucy a little while ago and returning to the Stellar Spirit world." Naruto showed understanding through smiling and nodding, but inside he was a bit confused. _He could have gone home at any time, yet he chose to stay in this world for three years... I wonder what his reasoning was, because I certainly don't want to be stuck here that long._

As Loke fell towards the ground, he suddenly saw a boulder tossed from the dirt cloud and towards him. He opened his fist, and slashed at the incoming rock, causing it to split into sections, and he ducked into an opening between the layers. From his angle, he could see Sakura jumping towards him, fist raised for a punch. "Give up- brute strength isn't going to win you this fight."

Sakura, however, smirked when she touched the outer layer of the boulder with her hand, and immediately flipped up to the top of the upmost slice. Everyone immediately knew what she was going to pull, and if they didn't know that Loke was immortal, they'd be rather scared for his life right now. Sakura raised her fist for what she thought would be the finishing blow. "Say goodbye!"

Loke, however, was smiling. "Goodbye." The pinkette was confused for a moment before she was hit in the back of the head by a rock. "What the-?!" She turned around, and saw Lucy with some rocks in her hand, smiling innocently. The arena was all of a sudden covered in a bright light, and Sakura realized just how deep she had just buried herself. Loke's voice echoed across the arena as he called out the name of his attack. "REGULUS IMPACT!" The rock beneath Sakura's feet crumbled, and large fragments of it showered her from below, causing a great deal of pain with every blow and cut. The force of the explosion itself was enough to send her flying, and she braced for impact as the ground rushed up to her...

But the hardness of the ground was not what she felt; instead, it was someone's arms. She looked up, and for a moment she swore she saw Sasuke holding her. Her vision cleared, and she realized that it was Loke, and her anger instantly flared. "L-let go of me! What do you think you're doing?!"

Loke shrugged. "You weren't trying to kill Lucy... so I thought I'd make sure you didn't die. But if you want me to put you down..." The girl immediately felt herself land on the ground, and immediately regretted having such a quick temper. She tried pushing herself up, but trying to move her left arm was too painful right now; it was probably broken.

Max went back to his usual announcing; the intensity of the fight had apparently been enough to get him to shut up (to the relief of many an audience member). "And Lucy defeats Sakura in a surprising upset! All of her strength was useless in the face of the speed and ferocity of Leo the Lion, as well as the cleverness of Stellar Spirit Mage Lucy!"

Loke grabbed the microphone from him. "You forgot about... the power of our love!" As soon as he said that, the crowd erupted into a variety of sounds; some were people going "aw" over what a cute couple they were, while others were Loke's fangirls being rather upset that he was now officially taken. The spirit walked over to Lucy, and gave her a smile. "You should call on me more often, I want to take you on a date sometime."

Lucy, however, seemed rather angered and embarrassed that he had pulled such a stunt, if her beet-red face was any indication. "Wh-why don't you just go already? The fight's over... we can celebrate when I have more magic to keep you around."

The Lion smiled at the fact that she hadn't refused, and faded into light particles as he walked past her. Sakura, on the other hand, was limping towards the shinobi's side, having pushed herself up with just the one arm, obviously quite bitter. _Power of love... if it were all that, none of this would be happening right now... _"Sakura!" She was surprised to hear someone calling out to her, so she turned towards the source of the voice- it was Makarov. He seemed amused by something, as were the mages immediately surrounding him if their suppressed chuckles were anything to go by. "Where do you think you're going?"

The medical ninja was a bit confused by this. Did he mean that she was too injured to just be sitting on the sidelines? She could heal herself, it wasn't much of a problem. "I was going back to our side. I lost, after all..." She didn't realize it herself, but her tone revealed that she was also saddened by her situation, in addition to the other emotions she was feeling.

Makarov, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. "Well, we have some pretty good doctors on call for the Guild! It'd be a shame if a pretty girl of your skill ended up with scars because you ended up fighting the most powerful of the combat spirits!"

The realization of where this was going was very apparent on her face. "Most powerful...?"

Mirajane nodded, smiling. "To take out one spirit of the Ecliptic Zodiac in combat is the mark of a powerful fighter; you took down two." Lucy sighed as she hid her eyes behind her hand; the Ecliptic Zodiac spirits were mostly wimps compared to the mages of Fairy Tail. "To forcibly close Taurus's gate with a _punch_ is unheard of, because of the sheer strength he is known to possess." The Raikage could be seen as rolling his own eyes at the comment, though none of the mages saw it. "When Virgo tried to attack from below, you knew to just destroy the medium she was moving through." Kakashi tried to shrink behind the other adult shinobi, feeling rather embarrassed at the memories of when she first demonstrated _that_ trick. "And then, with only 'strength' magic, to fight Leo the Lion, the most powerful of all the combat spirits... other mages would have quit right then and there, yet you were willing to keep going despite how much of a disadvantage you were at." Naruto chuckled at that; he guessed Sakura had been taking lessons from Lee in the determination department.

Makarov extended his hand to Sakura. "In other words... all of the qualities that we want in our mages. So get over here already!" The crowd erupted into cheers as Sakura smiled and walked over to the Guild's lineup. Mirajane motioned for the pinkette to go over to her, and when Sakura arrived the older girl smiled and held up a box that Sakura assumed held first-aid supplies. "Let's get you patched up for now, and then you can go get a doctor to take a better look later, okay?"

Sakura realized that there was probably no such thing as "medical" magic in this world, if Hinata's observations about their "magic" being rather unrestrained was true. After all, healing took extremely precise control over your chakra- if their chakra was wild by nature, odds were that the concept of healing wounds with 'magic' was nothing but a children's story to them. She smiled, and nodded. "Sure... thanks. It's been a while since I've been this beaten up... that was a pretty rookie mistake, to forget who my target was..."

She felt a shadow fall over her, and looked up to see Lucy standing over her, a worried smile on her face. "Are you alright? This is only my second time summoning Loke for combat, and I didn't know how far he'd take it... I was only able to get in that one attack in the end, if you can even call it that."

Sakura tried to brush off any worries she was causing the older girl, though she was glad that apparently she had apparently overpowered her to the point of desperation. "It'll heal eventually... there's always someone stronger. So are all of your summons like that? Each with a completely different function?"

The blond could see herself getting along with Sakura just fine. "Yep! I have Taurus, for brute strength; Aquarius, for fighting by water sources; Cancer, for speed; Sagittarius, for range; Virgo, for digging; and Loke, for fighting on land. I also have some silver key spirits, for stuff like travel, knowledge, music, and I even have one as a pet!"

Before Sakura could comment, it was Mirajane that spoke next. "Lucy? How long have you had six of the Ecliptic Zodiac spirits?"

Lucy seemed surprised by the question. "Eh? Since... after the battle with Phantom Lord, I think? Why do you ask?"

The eldest girl smiled, and shook her head. "It's nothing, I just felt like asking." Mirajane didn't want the blond to worry, but she knew that eventually the realization would hit the Stellar Spirit Mage about just how powerful she really was; after all, there were only 12 keys in the world that could summon Ecliptic Zodiac spirits, and this one young girl possessed half of them.

The crowd was hungry for another battle, since there seemed to a bit of a delay. Max decided to try to calm them down by trying to get the next match started. "W-which of the newcomers will step forward next, and try to one-up that clash of titans?"

Matsuri felt determined to be able to show that she was just as capable as her fellow Chunin kunoichi. "I will!"

Makarov was amused by her exuberance, if his grin was any indication. "This one has spirit! Alright then... name?" "Matsuri." "Combat specialty?" "Capturing." Makarov could feel the sound of coins clinking in the back of his head. _We don't have any "capture" specialists at the moment... Fairy Tail is known for its destructive potential. If she's any good at all, I'll take her! Even if all the others are like that first kid!_ He had to think for a moment of who he was going to send after this girl. _Who do we have that would be hard to capture... I know! I'll send Jet! His super-speed would be a good counter to anything she might try._ However, just as he was about to announce his decision, he was interrupted by Juvia, who was walking towards the center of the arena already. "Juvia! What are you doing?"

Juvia gave her master a glare possessing a previously unknown venom to it- it matched Mirajane's in quality, and that was saying something. "Let Juvia handle this one, Master."

Makarov had to at least give a semblance of a protest. "I-I know that you're hard to catch and all, but don't you think sending in one of-" Juvia's glare intensified; now it matched "Demon" Mirajane's in quality. Makarov wisely shut up.

Max's voice boomed over the stadium. "And the S-Rank Mage Juvia has decided to take on the new girl by herself! What could be the story behind this one?! If the new girl isn't careful, she could find herself in intensive care!"

Temari realized that bringing Matsuri along was a bad idea. "If those other guys weren't even of their highest ranks..." Kankuro only had one word to utter. "...Crap."

Juvia could see the reactions of the newcomers left in the back. "Oh-ho? It seems that Juvia has picked a fight with the weakling of the group..."

The Suna Chunin, however, wouldn't back down, and instead withdrew her jyouhyou, letting the tip hang loosely as she tied one end around her hand. Erza noted the choice of weapon. "A capture specialist... so, that string must have some kind of Anti-Magic properties, then. But what's with the tip on the end? Can't she manipulate it herself, like Miriana could? Or... does the string have some other properties besides Anti-Magic?"

The blue-haired woman in the arena, however, wasn't paying attention to any of that. "You think... you can capture Juvia with a string? Your precious "Lord" Gaara had to use Demon Sand in order to defeat the one man who ever defeated Juvia... A mere string will not hold Juvia!"

Makarov felt very nervous about letting Juvia fight this girl- the newcomers apparently thought of her as weaker than themselves, and Juvia seemed like she wanted to _kill_ this girl. "......Matsuri VS Juvia Loxar! FIGHT!"

Juvia immediately started by spraying water directly at Matsuri from her hand. "Juvia's water can't be bound by string! You've already lost!"

However, the water kept going past where Matsuri should've been- the moment Juvia realized this, she saw the tip of the jyouhyou spiraling around her at an impossible speed, and within moments her limbs were bound to her sides. Matsuri was now behind her, the string extending all the way back to her fist; the moment the string had tightened, it had begun glowing with a pale blue color. "This string is extremely durable because my magic runs through it. Heat, cold, blades or muscles- if it has a solid form, it won't be able to escape." Matsuri patted herself on the back, mentally- if she could take out one of their _strongest_ in one move, she'd probably be well on her way to being recognized as "elite" herself, and then she could get closer to Gaara-sama...

Juvia, however, turned to face Matsuri, obviously amused. "'Solid form'? Juvia thinks that you are naïve. There are things that don't have a 'solid form'." Juvia's body converted entirely into water in an instant, and the string fell to the ground, useless. "If Juvia sheds her body... then you won't be able to do a thing!"

Gaara's eyes widened; he recognized it as Suigetsu's signature jutsu, even more than his swordsmanship. "Th-that-!"

"That's Juvia's magic... complete and total mastery over the element of water." Gaara turned to face the speaker- Gray Fullbuster, the man he had defeated. Gaara only said only one word. "Complete?" The ice-mage nodded. "Yeah... she's what you call a "born mage". They're born with magic already instilled in their bodies for one reason or another. Their magic power is so great that they can't control it until much later in their lives. Juvia's "born magic" was water-based; her power was so great that rainclouds followed her every move, and it wasn't until this past year that she was even able to see the sun, because I beat her down so bad she didn't have excess magic power anymore. She was so grateful that when her Guild was disbanded due to having committed crimes, she came straight here."

Gaara was glad that such things occurred in this world- this way, his great power over sand wasn't nearly as suspicious as he thought it was. Perhaps now would be a good time to test his ability to weave half-truths. "...I thought so. Truth be told, I was like that as well." Gray's

eyes widened- this boy was born with sand magic? That... would actually explain a lot.

Juvia was firing blast after blast of water at Matsuri, who was doing everything she could to not get blasted, unable to even fight back. Meanwhile, Gaara started his story while watching the girl fight.

"My home was in a desert... every few generations, a sand mage of great power is born there. The locals attributed it to the spirit of the desert, saying it was his blessing to our village. But... they quickly realized that I was no blessing- I was a curse. When I was born, the desert raised up and swallowed my mother. When I fell asleep, the desert fell into such chaos that they tried everything within their power to keep me awake, giving me insomnia and night terrors. When I was angry, the sand reached out and crushed the limbs of those who angered me. If I felt fear, the sand immediately killed whatever I feared. Everyone in that desert feared me in return, treated me as a monster to run away from at first sight. Parents used me as a way to scare their children straight; "Use your water wisely or Gaara of the Sandfall will come!", they would say. My siblings resented me for taking their mother from them, and my father treated me as a tool to be used." Gaara was, by now, clenching the sleeves of his garb. Those who were around Gaara were rapt at attention, especially Natsu and Gray. Meanwhile, Matsuri had tried to hide behind some of the debris from Sakura's fight, but Juvia sliced through it with a high-pressure blast.

"Eventually, though, even my father took to fearing me, and posted a request- "Eliminate the Demon of the Desert". It cleared by the authorities, who were unaware that the request was for the death of a human being, as there really was a demon in the desert at the time." The disgust on the mages' faces was extremely evident. "The man who took the job... was my uncle, my mother's brother, the one man who had cared for me my whole life. He did everything within his power to assassinate me, but it was for naught- I was already eight years old, and my power had grown to the point that the sand blocked any attack that came my way." Makarov and Mirajane were listening rather intently as well, and the shock at the fact that all of this had happened to him by the age of eight was rather disturbing. "He tricked me into thinking he was going to give me a dying request, but instead... shattered the illusion in my heart that he had been crafting for years, that there were people who loved me. He told me that the only person in this world who would ever love me was myself, and while I was distracted blew himself up in a suicidal explosion."

At this point, Matsuri had just been hit by a blast of water and knocked over. Gaara didn't stop his story, despite how _sick_ some of the mages were looking. "I was distraught- I took to trying to cut myself, to stop the pain in my heart... but, the sand blocked every attempt. I couldn't fall asleep, because my power had grown to the point that it ate away at my mind if left unchecked. For four long years, I was lost in the darkness... but then, at the age of twelve, someone stood up to me. He had no family- no history. No one had loved him, no one had raised him, and he was feared for a power he didn't even have. But... where some of the most renowned mages in the country had failed, he was able to defeat me."

The lesser mages let out gasps at this, and by now no one on their side was paying attention to the fact that Juvia had apparently _absorbed_ Matsuri into her own body, except the ever impassive Gaara. Naruto thought it was a good story, the way he was telling it; Sakura was hearing about all of this for the first time, and so was just at attention as the rest of the mages.

"He had held no grudge; he certainly wasn't being _paid_ to do it. He had no other reason for fighting me than because I had picked a fight with his friends. But... using the only spells available to him, spells that to normal mages were useless... spells that, to _him_, a boy whose sheer magical capacity was feared to the point that no one taught him spells properly, were able to be used as weapons of mass destruction. And so, with those basic spells, he overcame my most powerful defenses, my most powerful offenses... and was able to punch me in the face. My reality shattered- the sand stopped moving of its own will, I could sleep, I now understood what "physical" pain was... I understood the power of such things as friendship and the love of others. The world... was a much brighter place to me, and I owe it all to that one punch. And from then on, I fought to protect others, because that's what _he_ did."

Natsu was apparently the one who had been most entranced by the story. "And... did your people stop fearing you?"

All of a sudden, Juvia let out a scream, catching the mages' attention- she was being electrically shocked, apparently from inside herself. She turned into water again, and Matsuri fell out of her body, coughing up water she had apparently swallowed. "Ha... ha... I didn't want to use that... water conducts electricity, so I didn't know how much of an effect it would have on you..."

Juvia had apparently withstood the initial shock, and was quite enraged. "Why you-!" Matsuri tossed the tip of her weapon at Juvia again, but Juvia just let it pass into her body, letting the tip come to rest inside her chest. "Did you forget? Juvia can't be bound by-!" Horrified realization dawned on her when she noticed that Matsuri wasn't trying to tie her up. Matsuri gave a tired smirk as her words on her magic echoed through Juvia's mind. _This string is extremely durable because my magic runs through it._

A current of electricity ran down the string, apparently a bit stronger than the last jolt if the pitch of Juvia's scream was any indication. Juvia fell over, unconscious, while Matsuri fell to one knee. "Ha... ha..." Her face slowly changed as the realization of what she had just _did_ dawned on her. "I... I did it... I won!" She turned to Gaara and cupped her hands around her now grinning mouth. "Lord Gaara! I won!"

Gaara clapped, and only made one comment on the question. "Matsuri grew up in that same town I did... and those two older teenagers over there are my siblings." The mages looked, and saw Temari and Kankuro grinning at Matsuri's accomplishment.

Makarov was almost too shocked to declare the winner. "Did that just happen...?" The crowd was silent, awaiting the announcement. He shook his head, in order to control himself. "W-Winner: Matsuri!" The entire stadium instantly burst into applause at the momentous event they had seen before them- this new girl, the complete underdog in this situation, was able to turn the match around at the last minute. Max was going crazy over his microphone. "The S-Rank Juvia of the Rain has tasted defeat at the hands of a girl and her string! This is one for the history books, folks!" Matsuri tried to get up to walk and bask in her newfound glory, but the moment she did so she fell over backwards, unable to move. "Heh... I guess compared to Lord Gaara, I'm still a baby, huh..." Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted into the air by what felt like the ground beneath her. "Th-this is...!" The other mages were impressed by the display of such long-range sand manipulation, while Matsuri could only blush. She was carried over to where Gaara was standing, and deposited; she looked at the most powerful ninja she had ever known, looking down at her with a _smile_... and she promptly fainted, with a smile on her lips and tears going down her eyes.

Gaara chuckled. "She overdid it... all of that high-speed movement had to have taken a lot out of her, and that electricity spell... I don't recall her knowing that."

Gray observed as Juvia was removed from the battlefield, on a stretcher. "Love makes you do the weirdest things... I'll never understand girls." Natsu and Naruto nodded in agreement, as if this was the greatest of sage wisdoms they could pass on to those around them.

Hinata smiled at what had happened. "I wish... I could do something like that... Take on someone so much stronger than me, and win..." Temari and Kankuro were the only ones who could hear her, so they didn't get that Hinata was referring to what had happened when Konoha had been leveled. Max called for the next fight, but Hinata was too lost in her daydreaming to really hear him. Temari shrugged, and gave Hinata a push; Max took that as the signal for her being the next to fight. "And we have a new contender already!"

Makarov jumped back into the arena, and performed his little interview. "Name?" Hinata realized with a start that she was in the middle of a crowded arena, and her shyness immediately took over, evident in how red her face had turned. "H-Hinata Hyuuga." "Combat specialty?" "H-hand-to-hand." While the crowd became enamored with how _cute_ this girl was, the guildmaster was making his decision. He didn't even really have to think about it this time; there were only two hand-to-hand specialists in the Guild, and again Miki was a martial artist by hobby. "Jet! You're up!"

Immediately, a man appeared before Hinata, a blur on par with Rock Lee. When he stopped, everyone was able to get a good look at him- he wore a stovepipe hat, with multiple rings of fur, as well as a long, fur-lined coat. His hair was untamed, yet still seemed slightly organized since his had was pushing it all down. He opened his mouth to speak, and Hinata noticed that he had one fang; in her mind, this match was just another practice match with Kiba. "Alright, if you say so." He looked Hinata in the eyes, and realized that they weren't quite normal. _White eyes? Is she blind? No... she's analyzing my appearance. She's probably got pretty good eyesight._

Hinata took a combat ready stance, looking determined. Makarov immediately took note of this contrast to the other mages thus far. _Sakura was a close-combat fighter, but she was far more free-form... so this girl knows exactly what she's doing. If she has good reflexes, Jet might actually be in trouble here... and if her eyes are any indication, her eyesight's not the best, so she won't rely on something as simple as her sight to keep track of Jet._ He raised his hand, showing that the match was to begin. "Hinata Hyuuga VS Jet! FIGHT!"

Immediately, Hinata activated her Byakugan- she could fight without it, but fighting _with_ it was far easier. Jet averted her gaze the moment they changed. "Eye magic?! I'll just not look in your eyes, then!" He immediately disappeared, and the ninja noted that he had run around Hinata to attack from behind. There wasn't one of them who didn't know that this was not a valid tactic to use on a Hyuuga, though Kakashi noted that apparently "magical" eyes were perfectly normal in this world, as well.

Jet ran straight towards Hinata, and executed a jumping kick- only for Hinata to sidestep it, and force her palm into Jet's stomach. At the speed he was going, it was quite painful; and then Hinata added her 'magic' to the attack, launching Jet from her palm. He rolled in the dirt, trying to recover his bearings. "Wh-what just happened?!"

Hinata seemed far calmer now that she was fighting. "This is a magic passed down only within my family, "White Eyes"... these eyes, when I activate them, allow me to see in a full sphere around myself. I can see any attack being made against me within a certain radius."

Jet stood up, and rubbed his legs- if they got too damaged, he couldn't fight, regardless of how much power he had left. Luckily, he knew how to avoid getting them damaged if his body got hit. "And... your attacks?"

Hinata had tried thinking of a way to make it sound less dangerous, but she knew even her toned-down version sounded dangerous. "...they are bursts of magical energy, similar to Sakura's magic but used differently. Usually, this magic is meant to inject my magic into your body and disable you without killing you. I have my own style, but it isn't any less dangerous."

Naruto shivered; he had moved down the line towards Sakura, to make sure she was alright. "Geez... I've never seen her acting like that. So cold, even when she's being nice."

The medic chuckled as she watched the fight while her arm was being splinted. "She's pretty different when she's fighting..." 'Inner' Sakura, who Sakura hadn't heard from in quite a while, made herself known. _Different from when she's around you, you idiot! She trained with Neji's team, she can stay calm under any situation that doesn't involve you!_

Jet frowned, and then decided to attack again. "If I can't attack from behind... I'll just assault from the front!" He charged Hinata again, this time from the front as he stated. "Wing Strike!" Hinata didn't even really bother trying to side-step, instead moving in for the finishing blow. She once again thrust her palm at Jet, who was already right in front of her, leg extended for a flying kick; the shape of a lion formed around her arm and rammed into the mage, throwing him quite a distance. "Lion Fist!

Surprisingly, Lucy was the first to comment on the technique. "That was... Loke's Regulus Impact spell!" The other mages had to agree with that assessment; there was no real difference between her "Lion Fist" and Loke's "Regulus Impact", besides the amount of power put into it..

Jet was trying to get up, but he was obviously having a hard time of it. "Ow... geez... it's hard to breath right now..." Hinata left her stance, deactivating her Byakugan. "Please... give up. My magic isn't meant to do light damage; normally, all it would take is one good blow for a human being to end up in the hospital."

Jet grit his teeth. "You think... that a mage of Fairy Tail would give up so easily! Eat this!" He started running in a circle around Hinata, causing a dirt tornado to form around her as he sped around. Hinata, however, merely resumed her stance, reactivating her eyes. Max decided to explain the technique to the audience. "Using his speed, Jet is creating a whirlwind with Hinata in the center! Not only can she not see outside of the funnel due to all of the debris, but he could attack from any side and she wouldn't see it until it was too late!"

Hinata, however, was unfazed, which was starting to annoy Jet. "You heard him! You won't be able to see me until it's too late!" After a few more seconds, he dashed into the tornado from behind the girl, about to perform a kick to her back. However, his foot was stopped by... something, before it reached her clothes. All of a sudden, she began spinning, and with that a dome of blue energy enveloped her, spinning and expanding rapidly.

What the crowd saw, however, was a blue glow from the center of the whirlwind, which suddenly expanded into a large dome that dispelled the tornado with its sheer size, throwing Jet from the immediate area. It quickly became apparent that he was now unconscious, as he was not getting back up. The dome disappeared, and Hinata stood in the center of a shallow crater the size of the energy dome she had created. Even Makarov was impressed by the display. "A dome of energy... I wonder how she made it?"

Max asked the question that was on everyone's minds- "What kind of spell was _that_?! It completely blew away everything around her!"

Hinata was still slightly tense, despite Jet not moving. "Heavenly Spin- It's a spell that creates a layer of energy around the caster. By itself, it can stop an attack, but by spinning, the layer expands and deflects everything; the faster you spin, the greater the dome's radius becomes. Combined with the White Eyes, it has been called the "Ultimate Defense"." She mentally patted herself on the back- she was able to convert 'ninja' terms into 'mage' terms, though she had spent the last several fights trying to come up with the explanations.

Makarov decided that Jet wasn't going to be getting up from a blow that powerful. "Winner: Hinata Hyuuga!" As the crowd cheered, Hinata suddenly reverted to her regular shyness. "A-ah! I... I won?" She turned to the lineup of mages, and saw Naruto giving her a thumbs-up. Her face turned beet-red, and a moment later she was flat on her back, unconscious. The crowd was silent for a moment, before Max regained coherence. "Is... she okay?"

Sakura sighed in frustration. "She got through the whole battle without flinching... but the moment she let her concentration go, her shyness knocked her out." Mirajane couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think... she'll be getting plenty of team invitations, regardless of her fighting abilities."

As the medics carried both Jet and Hinata away from the now more devastated arena, Max put out the call for a new fighter. "We still have two teenagers left before the adult newcomers try their hands! Don't be shy, step forward!"

Temari shrugged, and turned to Kankuro, her hand in a "scissors" position. "Fight ya for it."

Kankuro smirked. "Deal!" They immediately went into their 'battle'. "Rock, paper, scissors... go!" Kankuro thought he had won by choosing rock- but to his dismay, Temari had chosen paper. "But, you always go with scissors!"

Temari was already walking towards the center of the arena, a dark smile on her face. "And that's why I won, and you lost."

Makarov was already waiting for her in the middle of the arena, and performed his interview. "Name?" "Temari. I'm Gaara's older sister." Makarov knew that her choice of words was a challenge to anyone who thought themselves brave enough to risk Gaara's wrath. "Combat specialty?" Temari gave a smile- it was a poison-laced expression, the kind of smile that normally meant she was happy but right now it meant "I know ten different ways to kill you in the next five seconds." She opened her small hand fan and waved it at her face, confident in her own abilities; she doubted she'd need to take out the really big one inside the scroll on her back. "Distance fighting."

Makarov didn't quite know who to bring out; Macao might be able to do it, but he was a fire mage, while she was pretty obviously a wind mage. A woman's voice called out over the arena, obviously undaunted by Temari's hidden challenges. "I'll take her on, Master!" Temari watched as someone _flew_ down to the arena using what appeared to be dragonfly wings extending from the back of her dress; the dress itself barely went above what it needed to cover, and circled her body from there. She wore glasses, and her hair was done up in an odd, tight style. She looked like a secretary trying to show off too much, in Temari's opinion; an alternative description, using 'fantasy' terms (Temari still couldn't quite believe that this world was completely like some fantasy story), would be 'an elf trying too hard to be a fairy'. She landed in front of Temari, and pulled out her more- obviously more expensive, Temari noted- hand-fan, hiding her face below her eyes. She had also placed her other hand on her glasses, in a manner that suggested to the trained eye that she was going to remove them, rather than the apparent motion that she was doing it to look sexy. Temari noted that something seemed off about those eyes; perhaps she had 'eye magic' like that Jet guy had feared Hinata had? "After all... I still haven't made up for what I did at the festival. Letting everybody see my magic might go over well with the fans."

Makarov seemed to be mulling it over in his head. Temari was obviously talented, but using Evergreen might just be pushing it... but, at the same time, all of the newcomers younger than Temari had proven quite capable in the end, and letting Evergreen fight in public was, as she had said, a rather good idea, for more than one reason. "Alright then! Temari VS Evergreen!" The two women tensed, despite both keeping the appearance of confidence by holding out their fans in front of their faces. Both teams tensed with them- the mages knew just how hard Evergreen was to take out, while the shinobi knew that if Temari got serious then the arena probably wouldn't last very long. "FIGHT!"

**Ending Notes**

**Personal Comments: **Cliffhanger?! Sorry, I wanted to stop here because I don't want to set too high a standard for how many pages I make per chapter. Plus, if last chapter was Naruto and Gaara, and this chapter was Sakura, Matsuri, and Hinata, it actually makes sense to keep Temari and Kankuro together.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've expanded on characters from both sides. For Loke, I made him more powerful than shown to match him up with what should be expected, as well as made him more 'serious' while he was actually fighting. In the end, he and Lucy were able to defeat Sakura. For Jet, there wasn't much to expand on in the first place, so even with expansion he's not much of a character. For Matsuri, I was expanding on her dedication to her weapon that she started on pre-timeskip, and thought of ways she could use it in her jutsu, though at the moment I've only thought of running normal chakra and lightning chakra through it (it's noted in the story that she had probably just learned lightning chakra). I plan on her being one of the characters who honestly tries to improve themselves with magic rather than trying to stick to the system from their old world.

**Future plans: **Of those who've fought, Gaara is the one least likely to try learning magic, though it would be fun to write him trying to learn and not quite getting it. Naruto would want to learn non-lethal magic, Sakura would want pretty much anything (her specialty is in healing, and she believes that healing magic isn't something she should be showing off), Matsuri might learn to control her string freely, and Hinata... I have no plans for her magic style, though there ought to be SOMETHING she can learn (if you want to send in suggestions, go ahead :P). Of those who haven't fought, I would think... Kankuro (whose 'magic' is in his puppets), Kakashi (who feels that he's not fit to be Hokage), and maybe Bee (who would want to learn Requip/Exquip) would be honestly interested in learning magic without outside prompting. Yamato's probably more than comfortable with his jutsu set, Raikage only cares about being able to punch you in the face (which he only needs the one hand for), and Konan has quite the jutsu as is (as easily defeated by Jiraiya as it was).

**Fights still left:**

Temari VS Evergreen (Sorry I left ya on a cliffhanger there, but I'll actually show it, I promise!)

Kankuro VS Bixlow (I'm not the only one who thinks this will be good, apparently; I actually can't decide who ought to win due to how their abilities match up)

Kakashi VS Erza (I have some plans for this, but there's definitely some details needing to be worked out; Kakashi probably won't even be too serious, considering how incredibly strong he is, and might actually end up regretting it in the end)

Yamato VS Droy (Still thinking on how to make this work, since Droy has only cast all of one spell in the actual manga; Jet did too, but his magic is more apparent than Droy's. Anyone have an alternate suggestion?)

Raikage VS Elfman (I don't think you could possibly change my mind on this at this point; Raikage will probably get the most pages devoted his actual fight out of everyone else here, and I really hope you guys enjoy how I pull it off. If you guys can guess how this is going to go before you read it, then I'll give you a cookie :P )

Bee VS Erza (Erza ought to be able to fight again by the time this fight comes around; I think she's the best person for this fight, and as an S-Rank mage she wouldn't take too much damage from a non-serious Kakashi)

Konan VS Kana (This was suggested to me, and I like it- I forgot that she existed, but at the same time her fighting style hasn't been explored too well so that's kinda why. If I can't make it work it's straight back to Macao, who would most likely beat Konan rather badly. Her opponent could seriously determine her path for the rest of the story, and I really want to work with her character, so)


	5. Auditions 3: Battle of the Bodyguards

**Opening Notes**

**Personal comments: **Sorry this was so late~ these fights weren't cooperating with my writing style too well. I tried to work story into this, similar to what I did with Matsuri VS Juvia, but it didn't work out too well. Though, I did manage to get the interactions between the combatants more fleshed out this time~

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail.**

**Chapter 5 **

**Fairy Tail Auditions 3**

**Battle of the Bodyguards**

The moment the fight started, Temari saw her opponent grip her glasses, ready to tear them off. She decided it best not to attack at this exact instant, and instead waved her fan at the ground, kicking up a lot of dust into the air. "Dust Storm!" With all of the dust and the strong wind, Evergreen had to leave her glasses on, and instead brought her arms up to defend against any stray rocks. A moment later, the wind died down, and she could see that Temari had disappeared from where she was standing. There was a hard tap on the back of her head, and she turned around angrily to see Temari standing there, looking very confident with her fan closed; apparently she had used that to hit Evergreen on the head. "Tag, you're it!"

The crowd was very pleased with the display, considering their laughter. Evergreen waved her own fan at her opponent, obviously not too pleased herself. "Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" By the time her spell activated Temari had already disappeared, and the torrent of needles that resulted went straight towards the wall of the arena, though they disappeared before they hit the wall, seeming to have hit an invisible wall. Evergreen didn't pay it any mind; it was only natural that they defended the audience from possible attacks, and Fried's barriers were stronger than anyone else's that she had come across.

Evergreen looked around her to find her opponent, but didn't see her; a moment later, a blast of wind came from above, knocking her down. Temari landed on the other side of Evergreen, apparently having jumped over Evergreen's attack. "Oh? "Fairy" Machine Gun? How cute, unlike yourself, you old hag."

Evergreen was obviously not pleased with this attack on her pride; she would've preferred using her eyes to end the fight, but this Temari girl was too smart for that if her opening move was any indication. "Old hag?! I'll have you know I'm twenty, you ugly witch!" She activated her wings, and immediately started flying around Temari at a high speed. Temari was about to wave her fan again, but Evergreen was flying away before she could try. "Eat this! Fairy Bomb: Gremlin!"

Temari had already seen the dust that was coming from the older girl's wings, and had been in the middle of a bigger jutsu when Evergreen had flown away in order to send it away; that Evergreen would fly away only a few moments after starting her attack meant that it was dangerous, even to the user.. She used a strong swing, making sure to spin her body so her fan covered a full circle. "Whirlwind!" A strong wind blew in every direction from her, and the dust went with it; a moment later, the dust exploded, creating a ring of fire around Temari.

The crowd thought it was a rather beautiful display, and many of the men seemed to be falling in love with Temari. Max himself was getting rather excited. "Temari seems to have a counter for every move Evergreen can make! Will Evergreen go down without getting a single hit in, or does she have any more tricks up her sleeves to take down the graceful technique of Temari's fan?!"

Temari couldn't see outside of the ring of fire, but she could guess where Evergreen would attack from next. Sure enough, Evergreen flew over the ring of fire, fan at the ready. "Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" Temari waved her fan again, though her technique seemed different this time. "Wind Scythe!" A more visible whirlwind emanated from Temari's fan, and rushed towards the needles coming from Evergreen's. Evergreen appeared confident for a moment, until the needles were sliced to shreds inside of the whirlwind, causing her to realize that Temari had more than just gusts at her disposal. She moved out of the way of the attack, but Temari had jumped into the air to get closer, though Evergreen was still quite a ways up in the air, and called out the same technique.

Evergreen placed her arms in front of her face, expecting to also get sliced to shreds; however, the only thing she felt, after a moment, was the sensation that she was falling. Max's voice boomed over the stadium as she fell. "And Evergreen's wings have been clipped! Such precise wind magic! Is this the end for the most fairy-like of Fairy Tail?" The mage grit her teeth as Temari dashed straight towards her, ready to attack the older girl as she fell; Evergreen realized that her fan had been sliced, as well. Knowing it was her last chance for victory, Evergreen removed her glasses, hoping to catch the other girl's eyes; as she had hoped, Temari had closed her eyes, but she was surprised that the girl kept moving, and actually jumped towards where Evergreen was falling.

"H-how can you still attack?!" Temari smirked as she prepared a basic wind jutsu in her fan- it would hit hard, but it wouldn't slice. "It's called I trained my brain instead of grooming my looks!" She waved the fan, and another burst of wind flew out from it. "Air bullet!" Evergreen was hit in midair, and pushed across the arena, eventually crashing into the far wall. Makarov was immediately by her side, using the same surprising agility that got him in and out of the arena. "... Winner: Temari!"

The crowd was certainly impressed by Temari's style if their cheers were anything to go by. Max was pretty impressed too, if his asking Temari out using the microphone was any indication. Temari strode confidently over to the Guild's side, waving her fan delicately at her adoring fans, leaving Kankuro by himself on the other side.

Erza was actually the first to compliment Temari, walking up to her. "That's pretty impressive magic coming from such a small fan."

Temari held it out to the sun, and shrugged. "It's just a regular fan you can buy at the store... you should see my custom one sometime. I can do some real damage with that baby."

Gaara was the only one on their side who realized how much damage Temari could honestly do. "...please keep that in reserve for when you actually _need_ to level a town, Temari."

While the mages slowly crept away from Temari, Kankuro realized he needed to go into battle. His face revealed his anxiety, though no one picked up on it from this distance as he headed to the center of the devastated arena. Makarov was by his side pretty quickly to give the interview, and noticed his anxiety. _Is he the 'true' weakest member? Or is there some other reason he's so hesitant? _"Name?" "Kankuro. I'm Temari's younger brother." The Master noticed his wording, as well; he was 'Temari's younger brother', trying to indicate his lack of skill compared to her, rather than 'Gaara's older brother', which would instill some fear. "Combat specialty?" Kankuro, despite his anxiety, didn't even flinch. "Distance fighting."

Makarov saw no weapons on his person, but noticed the multiple scrolls he kept on his back; Temari had one of those scrolls, as well, and he thought it rather suspicious. _Well, I guess we'll probably get to see what they do this match, then... He's been purposefully giving the impression that he's no good, but the opposite is probably just the case._ He thought about who ought to fight, but he was interrupted _again_ by a familiar voice. "Yo, master! Let me take him on!" He turned around, and saw a tall man in dark, poofy clothes and an iron eye-mask walking towards them, five little wooden figures floating in the air behind him. "I've got a bone to pick with him since his sister took out Evergreen... besides, there's something about him that just ticks me off!"

Kankuro didn't quite know what he had done to tick off this man, but he didn't speak; this man was creepy enough by clothes alone, but the little figures were repeating random words that he said. Makarov didn't seem to have much of a problem with it, though. "Kankuro VS Bixlow, then!" Kankuro took a rather basic fighting stance, not even bothering with the scrolls on his back. Bixlow, meanwhile, readied the figures in front of himself. "FIGHT!"

Kankuro dashed at the man, fist raised. Predictably, the figures blocked the punch, and repelled the puppeteer, sending him through the air quite a distance. Bixlow looked rather angry, though you could only see his mouth. "Isn't your specialty distance fighting?! Then why are you coming at me with your fists? Is it because that that isn't your real body? Cause if it really is, then it really pisses me off that you just parade around without a soul!"

The whisperings immediately broke out among all of the audience members, which weren't helped by Max's commentating. "B-Bixlow just openly declared that his opponent 'has no soul'! As a soul magician, he's certainly the one to go to on the matter, but some things just shouldn't be said!"

A frown formed on Kankuro's face; the man had apparently partially seen through his jutsu because he specialized in 'souls', which frankly creeped the puppeteer out. After a moment, he decided to show off a bit, and the frown turned into a sinister smile. "Oh? So you can see that? Well, let's up the ante, then!" Instead of merely dashing at the man, he flew straight towards him, his stomach parallel to the ground, apparently unaided. The figures were moving around quickly but efficiently, shooting beams of light at their opponent. 'Kankuro' lazily dodged them, getting grazed here and there, and it was only a few seconds before he was in front of Bixlow. One of the figures appeared in front of Kankuro, and a moment later the puppeteer's head exploded. There were gasps of horror as the body was blown clear from the blast area, smoke rising from the face. Max's voice boomed over the stadium, obviously quite worried. "D-don't you think blasting him in the face was a bit much?!"

Temari smirked as Kankuro lay there, unmoving, confusing the mages around her. "And now... the show starts."

The body's arm twitched for a moment, before rising to its feet, noticeably without trying to push itself up. His face aimed towards the ground, the smoke clearing as soon as the face was out of view. Even Makarov realized that there was something very much not _right_ with the situation. "What kind of magic could he be using...? I haven't heard of body alteration magic quite like this..."

Suddenly, Kankuro lifted his face- only to reveal that his face was cracked and chipped, with one section entirely blown off, revealing an eye that Bixlow would say belonged to an expensive doll underneath the outer shell. Suddenly, the shell that was "Kankuro" slid off of Bixlow's opponent, turning into a pile of sand. In Kankuro's stead stood a figure with large, bushy hair, and a black cloak that covered its body, but not quite down to where the knees would be if it had any. Its legs were long tubes ending in feet, as were its four arms, each ending in slender hands. Three eyes, in a triangle, stared in random directions, not focusing on much of anything. Every movement it made made a loud 'clack' sound, which was very audible in the now otherwise silent arena. After a few moments, Max decided to say something. "Wh-what the hell is that?! Whatever it is, it isn't human!"

Temari sighed as none of the mages dared breath. "That Kankuro... always making a show out of every battle. If before was the 'opening scene', then this would be the 'introduction of conflict', wouldn't you say, Gaara?" Gaara merely nodded, not saying anything; as long as he had been around Kankuro, he didn't know too much about theatre.

The imposter again flew towards Bixlow, arms extended. Bixlow was rather irritated by its mere presence. "Where's my opponent?! If you don't talk, I'll destroy ya!" The beams were suddenly much faster and more intense, and the being had a much harder time avoiding them this time. After a few shots, the figures collected over it, apparently focusing their energies into one shot. Before they could fire, the being split into many pieces- the head, arms, and legs all flew off from the main body, each flying outward, away from the beam that was to come.

This was a move that stunned the mages, even Makarov. At the same time, Max was getting into the spirit of commentating on this battle. "A-and Kankuro has split into several pieces! What manner of creature has he transformed into?! Or, was this being merely posing as Kankuro?!"

Makarov seemed to notice something as Kankuro's pieces flew around. "What was... there! There's a glimmer by each of them... is that... string?"

They heard someone clicking their tongue, and all the mages turned their heads in unison towards the source- Temari. "Guess we couldn't hide it from a mage as experienced as yourself, huh? Kankuro's magic... I don't think you've actually seen him this entire time. He likes to fight without letting his opponent see him, instead using his dolls to fight his opponents indirectly. The doll you're seeing is called "Crow", and he's got a few more he can show off if you push him."

It was Lucy who realized that full implications of Kankuro's abilities first, and she rubbed her chin as she thought about it. "Wait... your brother uses soulless dolls to fight for him, right?"

Gaara didn't like the thinking pose she had taken. "...What of it?"

She seemed to have some kind of diagram in her head as she pointed at random. "Well, Bixlow's magic uses 'dolls with souls'... if his dolls get destroyed, he can just move the soul to a new doll. If Kankuro fights with 'soulless' dolls..."

The eldest of the Sand siblings slapped her forehead in annoyance. "So, you're saying Kankuro ticked off his natural enemy? Smooth move, drama dork..."

Meanwhile, Bixlow's dolls had tried to chase down the individual pieces, and managed to catch up quite quickly. However, the moment they tried to shoot them down, the pieces shot up, slashing through the aerial dolls with previously hidden blades. The dolls exploded unexpectedly, and all of the pieces of Kankuro's doll assembled back into one body. A small mound of dirt suddenly appeared next to Crow, rising to the height of a human being. The dirt subsided, and Kankuro now stood next to his puppet. "Heh! You surprised, soulsee-er? Your dolls take 'directions', but my puppets move according to my every whim, the moment I decide them!"

Bixlow was acting like he was frightened, though it was in such an exaggerated manner that everyone knew that he was acting. "Oh no~! My babies! Now I can't fight!" Crow's body shuddered for a moment, before its head turned to face Kankuro. Bixlow stuck his tongue out as part of his signature taunt. "No~t!"

The puppeteer barley had time to roll out of the way before a laser beam shot from Crow's mouth, and when he was on his feet again his shoulder was singed. Kankuro put his hand over the injury while glaring at Bixlow. "Damn... didn't think he could possess Crow. Well, then... let's try this!" He grabbed two of the scrolls on his back, and quickly rolled them out in front of himself. After a moment, they exploded into smoke, revealing the forms of two more puppets- one was a more inhuman and wider version of Crow, while the other one was completely beast-like, looking like a six-legged lizard. "These are Black Ant and Salamander. Say hello to Bixlow, guys!"

Predictably (for the mages, anyways), Natsu reacted to the title given to the beastly puppet. "Salamander?! That thing doesn't look anything like Igneel!"

Happy was too absorbed in the fight to take his attention from it, so he spoke without moving his head. "Maybe he hasn't seen a fire dragon before?" All of the shinobi took note of this- apparently some very different things had the names of creatures from their world. Naruto, ever curious, was the one who spoke up to ask about it. "Igneel? Fire dragon?"

The elder boy nodded. "Yep! Igneel was the dragon who raised me and taught me everything I know!"

Naruto wasn't the only one who was able to put two and two together and come up with a 'Wait, what?' reaction, though he and Sakura were the only ones willing to show it. "Everything? Even your magic?" The elder boy grinned and nodded, causing Naruto to turn his gaze away from the mage, lest he be caught up in his idiocy (not that Naruto was all that bright himself, though). "I... I see..." He felt a hand on his shoulder, and saw that it was Lucy, who had tears of understanding in her eyes. They then simultaneously bowed their heads in defeat to the oddity of Natsu.

Meanwhile, Erza seemed intrigued by the idea of the scrolls. "Those scrolls he carries... I guess they're an alternative to Requip magic, since 'puppets' don't count as weapons and armor."

Temari spoke before any of the lesser shinobi could blow their cover- that word, 'Requip'... to her, it sounded like a portmanteau of 're' and 'equip', implying that it was magic that allowed you to change your equipment. "Yeah, given enough time, a proper master of the technique can store pretty much anything that isn't a living creature. It's pretty useful for carrying large amounts of unconventional equipment, but at the same time it's rather obvious that you're carrying them, since it takes a whole lot of paper just to seal something like a knife, and then you have to start the whole process over if you unseal it."

The knight-like girl seemed to accept this explanation. "I see... so it's only really convenient to people who expect to have time to themselves afterwards to redo the seals, then."

The blond smirked behind her hand-fan. "I didn't say _that..._ there are things that one does not expect to reseal, and other things that one does not expect to _un_seal." Naruto remembered the time that Jiraiya had stored Itachi's 'Amaterasu' jutsu inside of a scroll, and his mood turned sour- he still missed the old pervert, and few would dare tell the boy that he needed to get over it, let alone those who knew him.

Black Ant launched forward, its barrel like chest opening to reveal that it was entirely empty on the inside. Before it could capture Crow, however, the other puppet flew away, like a limp doll being held by its head. It was pretty high up in the air, far from where Kankuro could reach at the moment; but that was what the puppeteer was aiming for- Salamander charged Bixlow, its every step creating a loud thud that indicated its great weight. Bixlow, however, merely stood there, his tongue hanging out, taunting Kankuro's every finger twitch. Just as Salamander was about to slam into the mage, however, it too froze. It flew into the air, besides Crow, and hung there just like its partner. After a moment, Black Ant was in line with them, all three of them facing Kankuro.

Bixlow was very amused. "Ha! Now your puppets belong to me~ I've still got two more souls left, and you have what, the one puppet? You think you'll be able to stop me before I possess it? Not only are your dolls soulless, but so's your magic! Something as simple as this can't defeat a mage of my level, you need magic with some oomph to it!"

Kankuro growled as he removed his final scroll from its resting place. "You want 'oomph'? You've got it! I wasn't taking you seriously, but it looks like I'll have to!" He showed the scroll to his opponent- it was red, with a white scorpion emblem on it. "The most powerful of my puppets... the ones you've seen so far are called 'Black Machines', because their designated function is to take out people by surprise. This one, however, is the masterpiece of the 'Red Machines', and you'll find out why it's called that in a minute... come, Scorpion!" He rolled out the scroll in front of himself in one swift movement, and this scroll also turned into smoke. When it cleared, what stood before everyone... was a red-haired boy, wearing a cloak of similar material to Kankuro's puppets, but at the same time it covered him far more completely. The boy possessed an empty stare, simply looking at the space in front of him.

Before anyone could react, Max interrupted the fight with his desire to talk. "Kankuro seems to have brought out a far more human-like puppet! If the more beastly ones couldn't take him on, what makes him think that this smaller puppet can do it?!"

Makarov seemed to be examining Kankuro's latest summon with a narrowed gaze. "...is my vision getting bad? Or did he just summon a human being?"

The adult shinobi observed it carefully; Konan was the first to make a comment. "Scorpion... Sasori? So that's what his true form looks like..."

Yamato groaned as he slumped forward. "You're kidding me... Sasori looked like _that_?! Sakura refused to transform into him to show me what he looked like..."

On the other side of the arena, Sakura grit her teeth as memories of her fight with Sasori flooded her head- she knew it would've just been a waste to let Sasori's puppets rot, from a military perspective, but she still didn't like having to look at that face again. "That... _thing_... it's not human, but... it's not a puppet like you would call the others puppets, either."

As the mages whispered among themselves about the meaning of that, Bixlow seemed surprised. "Th-that... why does that puppet have a soul in it that matches its body?!"

Kankuro shifted his eyes to 'Scorpion', and then turned back to Bixlow. "Hell if I know... this is some other puppeteer's masterpiece. Whether this puppet has a soul or not doesn't matter to me..." A thought struck him, and a smirk formed on his painted face. "...but, if it has a soul, then that means that you can't possess it, can you?" His fingers twitched, and the puppet threw off its cloak, revealing its much more obviously puppet-like body. It had a storage compartment in its stomach for some kind of cable, and two large wings made of blades extended from its back. The chest was segmented, suggesting that they were more storage compartments. The right chest plate opened, and what appeared to be a mass of strings appeared from them, attaching themselves to the floating puppets in an instant, preventing them from moving. On its back was another scroll-storage rack, like Kankuro used. "Here's something unique about all of the 'Red Machines'... each and every one of them is capable of using magic, and in the hands of a skilled puppeteer, are actually stronger than a mage with the same spells. Scorpion here has the same magic as I do, in addition to being outfitted with plenty of weaponry. So, essentially, he's a 'puppeteer' puppet!"

Kankuro twitched his finger, and the other three puppets were torn apart. Each of the parts, however, remained in the air- each of Crow and Black Ant's fourteen limbs were revealed to have blades inside of them, in addition to their heads. Black Ant's body opened again, looking like some black abyss from Bixlow's perspective. Crow's body turned, pointing what was left of the hollow arms at Bixlow like guns. Salamander's limbs and tail merely hung in the air, while its main body opened its mouth to reveal what appeared to be a gun in its maw. Bixlow seemed rather irritated by the display. "A puppet that uses magic?! I don't believe it! Even my babies can only attack due to my own magic! What the hell is so special about this one?!"

Temari gave a yawn as she seemingly ignored what was going on in front of her, and went to sit down on a bench by the wall. "Wake me up when Kankuro gets done with the long-winded speech I'm sure he wrote just for this occasion... long-story short, Red Machines aren't named for what they do, but how they were made. Plug your ears if you're squeamish." She was glad to note that none of the mages moved to do as told- meaning they were either all not squeamish, or they were all just stupid. She could live with either.

The puppeteer, not seeing his torn-apart puppets making any moves aside from his own will, decided to go with the flow here and show off, and started making Sasori move along to his tale. "There once was a puppeteer named "Sasori". He loved puppets, ever since he was a toddler." Sasori placed his hand down low, to show how small he was back then. "He became obsessed with art and eternal beauty, and one day he realized that human beings didn't last forever." The puppet traced a line from its eye down its cheek, indicating tears. "So, he came up with a process- one that, thankfully, hasn't been passed down." At this point, Sasori turned to Kankuro and shook his head disapprovingly before turning back to Bixlow. "Through this process, he could convert 'humans' into 'puppets', while retaining the body's ability to use magic. These puppets, his trademark "Red Machines", were far more dangerous than any other puppets made before them and since."

Even Erza showed visible horror at the implications of such a thing, while Makarov looked like he was trying to hold himself back from throttling Kankuro for using one of those Red Machines. "Such a thing... is murder! And using the body, even if someone else committed the crime, is still wrong!" Meanwhile, Lucy was reminded of Bixlow's own 'Figure Eyes', and wondered how many of the members of Fairy Tail knew about that little trick of his.

"He created roughly three-hundred such puppets, earning himself the name "Scorpion of the Red Sand"." Sasori unwound the cable in his stomach, showing off a stinger on the end of it, wrapping it around himself tenderly while a liquid dripped from the metal. "The 'masterpiece' you see before you is Sasori himself, a puppet whose magic was able to render it self-sufficient. Eventually, the last remnant of his humanity died, and all that's left is this puppet shell, 'Scorpion'." Sasori traced his finger over his neck, indicating that he was killed rather than dying of natural processes. "All of his victims were cremated, to lay rest to their souls... But Sasori himself was kept in one piece, as a warning to all of those who would dare try the same thing."

As the rest of the mages sighed in relief, Bixlow seemed to get even angrier. "Don't you get it? To live on as a puppet is what this guy wanted! He's freaking HAPPY that he's being immortalized like that!"

Kankuro's face turned grim once more. "Don't you think that that's a reasonable price to pay... to make sure the world never sees another person like him?" Sasori pointed at himself while tilting his head, in a playful gesture that was, predictably, extremely disturbing due to his body.

Bixlow sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well... it's not like I care too much, I guess. After all... your little puppet show gave me enough time to set up another spell!" Suddenly, Sasori flew out of Kankuro's control, and was floating by himself in the air as the parts of the other puppets fell to the ground. A sinister sneer appeared on his face as he looked down on Kankuro, his eyes not quite as lifeless as before.

"Well, hello, Kankuro. Fancy meeting you here. Last time we talked, I was sure that you only had three days to live... and here it's been, a good several months since then, and I'm the one who's dead..."

There was not one person there who didn't realize the implications of such a thing. Temari was currently burying her face in her hands, hoping that their entire cover wasn't just blown because Sasori had apparently been resurrected. Mirajane looked like she was trying not to retch as she took a step backwards. "'Several months'...? He died as recently as that...? Why... haven't we heard anything about this? Even the Magic Council can't keep something like _this_ quiet..."

Makarov nearly crushed the microphone in his hand- Kankuro hadn't _lied_ to them, but he had made it sound like it was ancient history. But for a mage to have strayed that far from the light, why he had never heard of this 'Sasori' was beyond his understanding.

Meanwhile, Sasori continued speaking. "I've been getting rather angry with you, you know... Granny left two gifts with you when she died, didn't she? She sacrificed her life to give you your brother back... but she left me behind as well, didn't she? You should cherish the gift she gave you, you know..."

Now Sakura's face was looking very pale. "It's been several months since he interacted with anybody... it sounds like he's gone insane..."

Bixlow clicked his tongue, and waved his hand in irritation. "Yo! You're working for me, you can chat with him later!"

Whatever Bixlow was expecting to happen, apparently didn't; Sasori's head turned around, without twisting his body, and stared with a great hatred. "Shut up. This is between a puppet and his puppeteer... I won't let anyone else interfere." Whatever seemed to be holding Sasori up released its hold, and he fell to the ground, landing on his feet. He stood up, and slowly began walking towards Kankuro, his head twisting back to face his target. His stinger began floating in the air in front of himself, a drop of liquid forming on the tip; as he did so, a small cannonball launched at Bixlow, exploding into a purple gas right before it hit him. It cleared after a moment, revealing a coughing Bixlow on his knees, before he collapsed entirely; Sasori, however, was paying the man no attention. "Here's what I'll do, Kankuro... I'm going to kill you- nice, and slow. But I won't leave you for dead, oh no! That was quite a mistake, you know. That little error cost me my life, you see, and pretty soon... you'll be joining me!"

**Ending notes**

**Personal comments: **Temari VS Evergreen... I got the feeling that Temari would easily overwhelm Evergreen, so she kinda did. This part was kind of just lame, because she wasn't even really trying, and I couldn't quite get the reactions of the crowd and such down.

Kankuro VS Bixlow was really hard to plan out, because I could easily see it going either way. As I got towards the end, Bixlow ended up stealing control of Sasori, and then Sasori broke free (!). Thus, an actual conflict! And yes, I do have a sort of 'stream of consciousness' style of writing plots, before you ask :P I had no intention of making Sasori break free until I wrote that Bixlow snapped at him.

So now we have a bit of a conflict beyond just the ninja trying to prove themselves, which I think is a very good idea. This will have some consequences in the future, beyond just hurting the ninja's chances of getting into the guild; after all, this sort of incident kinda leaks to the press, which Makarov doesn't like too much.

**Explanations: **First off: Yes, Fried prevented spells from leaving his barrier, but not people. This is why Natsu hit the wall earlier but Evergreen's attacks bounce off now. 'Can a jutsu leave the barrier', you ask? I'll answer this one some other time~

As Sakura explained, Sasori has quite obviously gone insane. I noticed that his first line sounded kinda like rhyme, so I ran with it (I've been writing poetry lately and it's been showing in how I think now). You'll see the extent of his madness next chapter, because even as I write this I'm brainstorming ideas for his fight.

As for why I brought him back, it just felt _right_. Bixlow ended up stealing control of all of Kankuro's puppets, so then he brought out Sasori to take them apart; to prevent Bixlow from just winning the fight too easily, I made it so that Sasori's soul still haunted his body, but one of Bixlow's mentioned but unused spells was controlling human puppets using their own souls, so Bixlow stalled for time while he took control of Sasori. Sasori, being an S-Rank criminal ninja, broke free of Bixlow's control pretty quickly, and since he hasn't had anyone to talk to for months on end, he's gone kinda insane.

**Preview:**

Sasori's head revolved slowly, staring at each of the mages around him as he reached into the circular compartment where his heart ought to be. "You know, I think Deidara was right... I've finally seen the light! 'Art is eternal'? How lame! I see now, art is... A BANG!"


	6. Auditions 4: Arts of Life and Death

**Opening Notes**

**Personal Comments: **Sorry I was so late with this one, I've just been busy with a whole lot of stuff (I've tapped into my truly artistic side, and now I'm focusing attention in multiple areas in addition to my schoolwork and social life). I had to type this chapter on my iPod because of how little time I actually got to use on my laptop, so if you notice errors and such that I missed while proofreading, let me know, because there were a LOT before I imported it to my laptop. Also, since it _did_ take so long to write, the mood might go all over the place when it really shouldn't, so if you notice parts of it that seem out of sync with the rest of the chapter, again, let me know! Actually, maybe I should just grab a beta-reader, I've been relying on my own perfectionism for far too long xD Any takers?

**Pre-Reading Explanations:** Sasori gets a bit out of character here and there (hey, he's gone insane), so I decided to come up with a logical explanation for it before you guys get into reading more. **Reasons that Sasori went insane:** **1) He could see people, but they didn't acknowledge him.** If you remember, one of his life goals was to _get a hug_. **2) He couldn't make more puppets.** Dude's an artist; not being able to make art is _bound_ to be torture. **3) He was sealed inside a scroll.** I would assume being sealed inside a scroll would be like being put in an infinite void, which tends to _get_ to people. **4) With all of that alone time, he probably turned to a different form of 'permanent' art, poetry.** Sasori-fans, assume that he's a far better poet in his native tongue than in English so that it doesn't feel like I'm insulting his intelligence with some of his crappy lines.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Fairy Tail.**

**Chapter 6**

**Auditions 4**

**Arts of Life and Death  
**

Kankuro slowly manuevered his body so that he could dodge in any direction if need be; after all, he was staring straight into the jaws of death, or rather, the eminent threat of such. Sasori had so many weapons pointed at him, even he couldn't laugh; rotating blades, pointed knives, kunai launchers, poison gas bombs, his stinger, and then there were the hordes of miscellaneous weapons that he could bring to bear if he so much as thought about it.

After a moment, Sasori seemed to realize something, and looked up at all of the puppet parts around himself. "Oh, what do we have here? More of my toys for you to fear! Crow and Black Ant, Salamander too! All the more to help me kill you!"The puppets reassembled themselves in front of Sasori, but now that their weapons were all brought to bear, they were even more imposing than before.

Makarov's voice boomed over the microphone, trying to sound as disarming as possible. "Everyone, please remain calm! We have barriers in place to prevent you from being harmed, so please leave in an orderly fashion! We'll handle this incident ourselves!"

Kankuro noticed several of the mages looking ready to go into battle, and tried to discourage them. "Stop! Those three hundred puppets were all powerful mages, killed by Sasori himself! He's slaughtered whole Guilds before; hell, his freaking specialty is taking on large groups! Let me and my siblings take him on, we know his every trick!"

Natsu stepped forward, his fists aflame. "Oi, oi! I think you're underestimating us because we were going easy on you! Come on, everyone, let's show them how strong Fairy Tail really is! " He was the first to charge, apparently propelled through the air by flames emanating from his feet. Naruto was surprised by his speed.

"F-fast!"

Lucy nodded as she watched him prepare a spell. "More than anything, Natsu takes fighting a strong opponent seriously."

Sasori extended his left hand towards Natsu, followed by turning his head to face the Dragon Slayer. "Oh? A flame wielding clown? Be careful now, don't drown!" A small cloud of smoke exploded from his hand, and a small nozzle appeared in his palm. A moment later, and a veritable geyser burst forth and hit Natsu at full force, pushing him straight into the wall.

The water splashed onto some audience members, and the realization hit them rather quickly that the barrier wasn't protecting them. It only took a few more seconds for panic to spread throughout the crowd like wildfire, causing a stampede as they attempted to evacuate.

Makarov was obviously quite upset, as well as surprised. "How did his magic pierce Fried's barrier?! That shouldn't be possible with such an ordinary spell!"

As Mirajane tried to get him to calm down, it was Sakura who offered a logical explanation. "He uses the same magic as Kankuro- strings and scrolls. That was ordinary water that you could probably get at the lake. That is what is so deadly about Sasori- if you go in expecting the norm with magic... You'll get killed. His body is literally a walking arsenal, as all puppets are; and we're fighting four at once!"

A voice came from her side. "A walking arsenal, you say...? He's not the only one here." Sakura turned, and saw Erza stepping forward, a sword in her hand that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Gray, back me up; Lucy, you rest."

Lucy seemed a bit too eager to sit down next to Sakura. "Thanks, Erza! I'm exhausted..."

Erza charged the evil red-head, her equipment gleaming in the sun as she ran through a puddle. Sasori, however, was none too impressed. "You're only going to fight me with a sword? Come, now, you're going to make me bored!" His stinger lashed out at the woman, but she deflected it with the flat end of her sword, and ran the blade down the length of the cable.

Her eyes narrowed as she glanced at the liquid that flew off of the cable along with the sparks of the two metals' friction. (Oil? No... Poison!) As she charged, the stinger itself tried to stab her in the back, but a large block of ice appeared between it and Erza, and the stinger lodged itself in it. Grey smirked as he stood by where Natsu had been knocked down, his hands in the water. "You've only made this fight easier for us by spraying water everywhere!"

Sasori looked mildly annoyed as Erza reached him, and he casually parried her blade with one of his bladed wings. She reached behind herself with her free hand, and a second sword appeared in her grasp; however, it was just as easily parried, and Sasori brought up his left hand again, a small puff of smoke escaping from the nozzle. "Water isn't all I've got! Things are about to get hot!"

Erza saw a small glow in the nozzle, and immediately jumped over Sasori's body as a stream of flames burst forth. She attempted to slash at him mid-flight, but he had apparently used the stinger in Grey's ice as a leverage point to swing himself through the air, towards Bixlow's unconscious body- and Kankuro, who had escaped to his side, apparently trying to administer an antidote. "It's his technique that keeps me alive- all who try to take him from me must die!"

Another burst of flames appeared from his left, and he spun one of his wings like a fan to deflect them. Natsu was right behind them, his fists ignited as flames poured from his feet. "Keep your priorities straight! You have to go through us first!"

Sasori's eyes narrowed. "Shoo, fly! Don't bother me! Why don't you just go die, and just leave me be?" Suddenly, the other three puppets began moving again, and Crow opened his mouth wide in Natsu's direction. Immediately, several kunai knives launched straight towards the Dragon Slayer at high speeds. "You can't dodge in mid-air; didn't they tell you? I don't fight fair!"

Natsu smirked as he twisted his body to face upwards. "You obviously don't know me!" He inhaled deeply, puffing his cheeks more than a human ought to be able to. "Karyuu no... HOUKOU!" The force of his fire breath slammed himself into the dirt, and the kunai flew over him, embedding themselves where a few mages had been standing a moment before.

Sasori expressed some surprise, and his voice returned to a far less insane tone as he stopped swinging towards Grey and set his feet on the ground, retracting his stinger as well. "Oh? You speak that tongue? So I'm not too far removed from home... Your strange techniques are all very different from what I'm accustomed to. I'm going to have to dissect you and see what makes you tic!"

Bee let out a sigh of relief as he stood and watched. "Thank you! His rhymes were so awful, they ought to be unlawful!"

Kakashi seemed to be taking the whole thing in stride. "Do you think we ought to help...? He _is_ an S-Ranked criminal, after all..."

The Raikage was posed as if he had crossed his arms, but with only one-and-a-half arms, the effect was diminished. "If they can't measure up to my standards, I don't see much point in joining them!"

Yamato whispered into Kakashi's ear, so that the Raikage wouldn't hear him nor be able to read his lips. "Does _anyone_ measure up to his standards...?"

Natsu, however, was very confused, and turned his head to the mages on the sideline for an answer. "That 'tongue'? Huh?"

Lucy rolled her eyes as she cupped her hands together to shout at him. "Tongue means language, Natsu! He knows the language you're speaking!"

Natsu's eyes were noticeably wider when he processed her definition. "But... That's Ancient Draconian..." He seemed to be so surprised that he didn't even hear Black Ant approaching him, and had to be given a flying tackle by Happy so that he wouldn't be captured. The cat lifted Natsu into the air, acting as the Dragon Slayer's wings, and began shaking him from behind.

"Natsu! Snap out of it!"

Natsu shook his head by himself, and glanced at Naruto before he looked down upon Sasori with determination in his eyes. "...well, I'll just beat the answer out of him, then!"

The blond ninja, in the meantime, was getting slightly irritated. "I don't feel right, letting you guys handle this..."

Makarov shrugged, apparently far more relaxed than he had been before. "While, yes, you brought him here... We were the ones who cast that spell. Just calm down, and relax. With those guys on the job, you could probably meditate without fear of the enemy. Besides, we all need to focus our magic for if they fail..."

Mirajane gave the two a warm smile. "The only failing those three will do is keeping the property damage to a minimum."

Elfman, who had been quiet for quite a while, seemed to suddenly realize something. "...Aren't we still inside the barrier?" All but Makarov and the shinobi suddenly seemed quite concerned for their lives. Makarov merely laughed it off, which Naruto found odd.

"How come you're not freaking out anymore...?"

Makarov smiled, seeming almost sleepy. "I took my medicine. It calms my soul, makes sure I don't get a heart attack from running this Guild."

Naruto nodded in hesitant understanding, and turned back to the fight. After a moment, he sat down next to Makarov on the ground, and took up a meditative position. Elfman saw this, and suddenly his fears were abated. "Such manliness, to sit still so near to their battle!" He sat down next to the blond, staring intensely at the life and death battle before them.

Naruto didn't pay him any mind; instead, he was trying to see if his Sage Mode would work here. If he could bring it out, Sasori wouldn't stand a chance. The moment he reached his senses out to the world, however, he was overcome by the sheer amount of energy that was flowing in this area alone. His eyes shot open, and he was visibly pale. Makarov noticed his change in demeanor, and spoke. "Is everything alright?"

Naruto took a calming breath, and regained his focus. "...It's nothing. I just tried to do something that I wasn't prepared for, that's all."

The Guildmaster shrugged as he took a swig of some bottled substance. "Really? It felt like you were just trying to replenish your magic."

The blond tried to shake suspicion off of himself. "It was a bit more complicated than that..." He turned his thoughts inward again, closing his eyes and letting himself feel the world. _These people... They all have natural energy flowing through them! Why aren't they affected like I am...?_ He sharpened his senses a little, and what he felt surprised him. _Their chakra is missing physical energy...? That explains why it's so 'wild and untamed' like Hinata said... Natural energy is more powerful than physical energy, enough to create Sage Mode. Removing physical energy from the mix probably removes the risk of transforming entirely, leaving only the powerful techniques while they stay normal humans..._

_...It's amazing how well I think when I'm calm. Was I always so smart? Maybe Sakura would've actually liked me if I had made good grades. Oh, but would Hinata like me? Maybe I would've been placed on her team... But then I wouldn't be friends with Sasuke. And I probably wouldn't have met Ero-Sennin... Oh! And no Kakashi-sensei either! And, and..._

He was snapped from his daydream when someone grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to the side rather roughly. His eyes now open, he could see that a large burst of flames had scorched where he had been sitting a moment before. His eyebrow was twitching in annoyance as he turned to Makarov. "...I thought you said I could meditate without fear of the enemy?"

Makarov took another swig of his bottle, and laughed for a second. "I did say that, didn't I? Well, Natsu isn't the enemy, so there! Besides, I said 'probably'."

Naruto swore in his native tongue under his breath before speaking. "With friends like those, I'm surprised you even _have_ enemies." He turned his attention back to the fight, and saw that Sasori had started using his puppets instead of himself; Natsu was fighting Salamander, Erza was fighting Crow, and Gray was fighting Black Ant.

Natsu was trying every spell he could against his opponent, but it just wasn't working; all of his attacks seemed to just bounce off or go around it, but fortunately, Salamander was too big a puppet to truly fight back. Erza, having an opponent that had four arms that each had their own blades and gas cannons, seemed to be having a little difficulty keeping up with only two swords. Gray seemed to be having the easiest time, having created an ice sword that could easily block the assassin puppet's attacks, and was too nimble to be captured in its body.

Sasori, however, seemed most interested in Gray, as his eyes were locked on him. "It's been quite a while since I last saw someone who could use Ice techniques... It was such a shame that I couldn't add their eternal frost to my collection. One of the few people I wanted to keep that I didn't get to."

Gray seemed mildly offended by the words, as his tone was slightly venomous. "Your 'collection'? How many people have you killed who weren't 'worthy' in your eyes?"

Sasori seemed to consider how to answer for a minute, as his puppets slowed in their intensity. "How many... Do you mean that I was paid to kill, who were being paid to kill me, that I just felt like killing, or who were stupid enough to get in my way? It doesn't matter to me, I stopped keeping track of who wasn't in my collection well over twenty years ago- killing was a daily occurence by then. Some people appreciate such fine distinctions, and I sympathize- as an artist, attention to detail is very important to me. One tiny slip of my hand, and I might accidentally kill the puppet I'm making."

Each of the mages seemed ready to launch themselves towards Sasori. Even Mirajane was rolling up her sleeves, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "Master? It's your call."

Makarov took one gulp of his drink before staring at the battlefield. "Wait for it..."

Meanwhile, Kankuro had been able to neutralize the poison in Bixlow's body, and the soul mage was waking up. "Ugh... What happened? Anyone get the number on that horseless carriage...?"

Kankuro sighed in relief. "Good, you're awake. Now you can undo whatever the hell it was that you did!"

Bixlow sat up and took note of the chaos now being inflicted upon Kankuro's- no, now they were Sasori's- puppets; Natsu was now ruthlessly pummeling Salamander, albeit still with no real damage, Gray had frozen Black Ant in a spire of ice, and Erza was now wearing armor that seemed to be made of blades while more blades danced around her, slicing Crow into his component parts within moments. When Erza and Gray turned their attention to Sasori, Bixlow suddenly remembered what was happening, and wasn't too pleased about it. "Uh, no can do, pal. Physically binding a soul to a doll is a lasting process- you'd have to dismantle him to force the soul out, especially since he managed to break free of my control."

Kankuro was about to reprimand the Mage for being careless when he thought of something. "And you put souls in my dolls knowing that?!? Why I oughta..." Again, a thought struck him. "Wait, that means that the other souls are still in the other puppets, right?"

Bixlow stood up, and dusted himself off. "You dismantled them enough to force the souls out earlier, remember? Lucky guess, by the way. If you can force his body apart, it should cancel the spell, though I've never had to deal with this before."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow ataz his wording. "'Should work'... I hate those words. Usually means that it won't."

Some cheer returned to Bixlow's face as he turned his head towards Natsu and Salamander. "I can think of something to better the odds..."

By now, Sasori was so focused on Erza and Gray that Salamander wasn't even moving anymore. Natsu stamped his foot on the thing's forehead, his entire body quite literally burning with passion. "Haaaaaa! Victory! Eat that, faker!"

Even Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes at the boy's single-track mind. "...He completely forgot about the actual danger because of some personal grudge..." Suddenly, he felt several tugs on his body from above, as if he were suddenly a marionette attached to several strings. A moment later, he was soaring through the air, pulled by those same strings. "H-hey! Put me down!"

He landed roughly, besides Kankuro, who had already moved towards Salamander, and was pointing at the strings that attached it to Sasori. "Hey, blondie. Cut that with your wind technique."

Naruto was understandably upset. "You could've ASKED! Or, better yet, gotten your sister to do this!"

Kankuro merely laughed at his expense. "This way was funnier. I'd get that pink-haired girl over here to help out, but you can understand why I can't do that right now."

Naruto sighed, and went to his task- he created a few clones so he could do the work more quickly, putting his hands to the strings and slicing them with pure manipulation. It was only a few moments until Salamander was free. "Anything else I need to do? 'cause I'm starting to get pissed off at that guy still being alive. I never did get to properly thank them for what they did for Gaara."

The puppeteer looked at the battle Sasori was currently engaged in. Sasori was near completely on the defensive, because Natsu had joined the fray; Kankuro knew that if he could, he'd have started really cutting loose with some of Kankuro's personal modifications. "Use that Sage mumbo-jumbo, cause otherwise there's not much point arriving this late into the story." When he got no response other than a clenched fist, Kankuro attached his own strings to Salamander. "Alright, then! Yo, mages, get outta there! Time to close the curtain on this freak show!"

Salamander had opened its mouth, and a glow had appeared at the tip of the nozzle where its tongue ought to be. The mages, including Natsu, recognized what was happening and vacated Sasori's surroundings. The puppet himself, however, was merely intrigued. "Oh? I don't recall Salamander having such a function..." His expression and tone seemed to be slipping towards insanity once more. "Truly, puppets are the greatest art! They live on forever, never aging, always evolving!"

Kankuro had an extremely serious expression on his face as the very air grew heavy with anticipation, in addition to the chakra being focused in Salamander's mouth. "Haven't you ever heard that expression? An artist is never truly appreciated until they're dead. To me, that says that true beauty... is _death_."

Without warning, large walls of sand erected themselves around Sasori on three sides, leaving only his line of sight with Salamander. A moment later, a large red beam shot from Salamander, far wider and taller than the puppet itself. Sasori seemed to stare in wonder as it headed for him, its brightness threatening to consume his entire field of vision. "Such beauty..."

The red-head was swallowed by the blast, which continued beyond Sasori's position and into the sand walls, turning them into molten glass as the beam died down. Kankuro turned to his brother for but a moment, showing his thanks. He quickly glanced at where Sasori had been standing- a roughly human-sized pile of molten material lay in the center as the melted sand slowly slid downwards and apart. His eyes widened as the implications hit him- after all, wood didn't 'melt' like that. "I have one word for this: SHI-" He didn't even get to finish his curse before his entire being felt the shock of Sasori's stinger bursting through his abdomen, a mix of poison and blood dripping from it as Kankuro stared downwards in horror.

The stinger had come from underground behind the puppeteer, and soon enough the ground bulged, Sasori emerging as Kankuro had done earlier. "If death is so beautiful... Then why don't you go first?" He withdrew his stinger, causing more blood to pour from the wound. Kankuro, his own poison already running through his veins, could do nothing but take a gasp for air before collapsing.

Each of the mages looked ready to burst into action when a large gust of wind blew a good half of them off of their feet. Those still standing could see that Temari had brought out a fan nearly as large as she was, and though her face was calm, the tone of her voice revealed the tempest beneath. "Someone get Kankuro out of there. I'll kill that monster myself, he doesn't even deserve hell at this point."

Makarov knew better than to cross an angry woman; as much as he wanted to do the deed himself, there would be no stopping her. "Mira." The white-haired girl nodded, and within moments an awful power filled the atmosphere, emanating from her body. Seconds later, she had visibly transformed from a cute waitress into a winged demoness from hell, with the clothes- or rather, scales- to match.

Sasori turned to face her, his body quivering with excitement- apparently, the magic gave him greater motor control than usual. "Such beauty... Such strength! To make _you_ mine... I'll go to any length!"

Bee groaned from where the older ninja had moved to, a fair bit closer to Sasori should they be needed. "He's busting out those awful rhymes, I want to see him do time! Yeeeaaaah!" Kakashi and Yamato slowly stepped away from the man who had obviously 'lost it' a long time ago, as overtly powerful shinobi were prone to do.

After a moment, Mira flew through the air towards Sasori, and he prepared himself for a fight. However, she veered off her direct course with him, and before he could even react she had already grabbed Kankuro. He turned to face her, but within moments she was gone, flying far away with the ninja. Temari had stepped forward, prepared to swing her fan at a moment's notice. "Eat this! Great Whirlwind Scythe!" She swung the fan, and instantly a great gust of wind blew through the entire arena. Within moments, Sasori had been sliced to pieces, falling apart in the dust. Temari looked satisfied for a moment, until she realized that the puppet that lay where Sasori was supposed to be was not Sasori at all, but a different puppet altogether that had his red hair.

She could hear Sasori's voice coming from behind her. "Your techniques all rely on your fan... You might as well fight me with a crayon!" She jumped into the air, hoping to escape any blow he was about to land, but as she twisted in midair she realized that strings were attached to his fingers, leading into the air. She turned her head, and saw a female looking puppet in a long brown robe, sword in hand. She suddenly felt the fan yanked out of her hands, and she realized with horror that Sasori had picked up Kankuro's little trick of attaching strings to inanimate objects.

She had braced for the inevitable, as she didn't have enough time to counter, but instead the puppet got smashed by Mirajane's punch. Mira then grabbed her, and took her away from Sasori, landing her by Kankuro. Sakura had walked over, a determined look on her face. "Temari, how much antidote does Kankuro carry on his person?"

Temari shook her head in anger. "Kankuro keeps an antidote for all his poisons, in case he accidentally hits... something he's not supposed to." She mentally cursed her hesitance- a lot of factors combined were now making her suspicious. "His poisons aren't lethal, but a wound like that _is_. He needs medical attention. NOW."

Sakura knew just as well as Temari that a medical ninja was needed for this sort of wound, or the patient wouldn't survive long. "Alright, then. Guess my cover's as good as blown." She ran her hands through some signs, placed them over Kankuro's wound, and immediately they began glowing with a green energy. Even with his medicine in effect, Makarov looked ready to have a heart attack.

"What kind of magic is this, young lady?!"

Sakura didn't divert her attention from the wound, her face beginning to sweat. "Healing first, questions later."

Makarov wasn't stupid by any means; throughout the whole auditions, he hadn't felt these people connecting to the world in order to use their magic but once- when Naruto had started meditating. Whatever sort of techniques they were using, it wasn't magic, and they considered their one magic user their trump card. Thinking back on it, it was easy to see that only Naruto had used magic unaided- everyone else had some sort of tool they used, except Sakura, whose body might've just been exceptionally well-trained. Seeing her perform a spell right in front of him all but confirmed in his mind that they used a third energy of sorts that combined with their spirits in place of the world's energy, and as old as he was Makarov knew what it probably was from experience- the energy of the body, of life itself, something added only to the most powerful of spells.

He decided that questioning could be done later. For now, they still had Sasori to deal with, and he could feel the army coming. "Everyone! Take him out!"

Immediately, all of the mages began charging Sasori, who was standing by the remains of the red-headed puppet, the female brown-haired puppet's head having blown over to its side. "Haha... They killed Mama and Papa... I guess it's time to say 'tata'!" The round compartment where his heart ought to be opened, and he reached into it while side-stepping Mira's charge. He took out what appeared to be a large ball made of paper strips, each inscribed with similar sealing patterns as had been seen inside the storage scrolls. "You know, I think Deidara was right! I've finally seen the light!"

It took Temari a moment to realize what the ball was; Kankuro had never shown it to her in it's complete form. "Everyone! Get out of there! That thing will kill us all!"

The ball was tossed into the air, exploding into a cloud of smoke. From the smoke came several kunai, with long strings attached to them, flying straight in every direction. The shinobi realized with horror that the strings were lined with both paper bombs and scrolls that unfurled and shot more kunai in every direction, each lined with more bombs. Sasori jumped high into the air using his stinger to lift him, and then he jumped onto Temari's unfurled fan, using it as a glider of sorts. Sasori's face seemed like that of a sadistic child's as he looked down on them. "'Art is eternal'? How lame! I see now, _true_ art is..."

The papers all began burning from the bottom up, at a rapid pace. Every mage tried throwing spells at the papers to try to disarm them, to varying effect. Natsu's attack caused a chain reaction of explosions that was cut short by Gray's ice magic. Salamander, apparently now under Bixlow's control, had taken several strings into its mouth and tried to take them away from everyone else. Elfman, like his sister, had changed into a demon, though he was far larger, and was attempting to throw the kunai anchors as far away as possible, while Mirajane was doing the same as Salamander and trying to fly into the sky with them, towards Sasori. Erza had equipped armor that looked highly defensive in purpose, and had stepped in front of the mages who had stayed behind.

All of this happened in the precious few moments they had before a giant explosion enveloped the arena, and Sasori finished his partner's catch phrase as the force of it propelled him away. "...**A BANG!**"

---

**Ending Notes**

**Personal Comments:** Haha, I said 'extent' of Sasori's madness last chapter, but maybe it was all just an act? After all, he was still thinking like a ninja, even if he was acting like a madman. Then again, he seems pretty ADD, doesn't he? His priorities keep shifting from survival to art and back, and I'm imagining him with this creepy smile the whole time.

I really should plan out what I do more, but it makes it exciting to continue writing. I ended up thinking of so many future possibilities for Sasori that I ended up changing my original ending of him committing suicide by explosion as Deidara did, and instead escaping into the magical world and coming back to haunt our heroes another day. Plus, it gives me chances for fanfic-original arcs, so that'll be nice.

**Explanations**

**Why didn't Mira just smash him?** I would think she hates actually killing people, and Sasori was too lifelike for her to just up and smash him.

**Makarov's medicine:** This takes place after Fighting Festival, so Makarov now has stress-relief medicine in case something like that ever happens again.

**Nature of magic and chakra: **This will be put into more detail later, but essentially magic is supposed to be the combination of the energy of the world and the energy of your mind, while magic is the energy of your living body with the energy of your mind. Naruto's Sage jutsu uses all three, which I intend to put to interesting use later.

**Killer Bee's and Raikage's shallow personalities: **Please be patient- they'll begin to develop by the end of the 'Auditions' arc, I promise! I've been making them purposefully shallow so it will seem like a much better improvement when they do develop (How soon that is depends on whether I decide to go for a quick ending due to Sasori or give everyone a fight like I had originally intended; if nothing else, I want to do Raikage VS Elfman, as he's the shallowest of all).

**Konan and Yamato's lack of screentime:** ….okay, I have no explanation for this. I think this calls for character-centric omake segments, based on whoever I feel (and you feel, of course) has been getting left out! These will start next chapter, look forward to it~

**Salamander:** Salamander is supposed to be a defensive puppet, which you don't get to see in the manga. I'd assume that it could take a lot of damage. The Wave Motion Gun (Hello, tropers!) is from the games.

**The sand wall/Sasori's escape from death:** It was 'normal' sand that Gaara made using a jutsu; long story short, Sasori used it to create a sand clone and escape.

**How did Sasori even gain control? **For one, I would think that he's a powerful soul. Two, I would think that dying and losing the power of your body makes you more receptive to the power of nature, which might be why Sasori can affect Bixlow's magic (after all, it's Fairy Tail canon that ghosts can still use magic; it's been done twice!).


End file.
